


Assurance

by darkeyes (captainfate)



Series: Auditor AU [1]
Category: Portrait de la jeune fille en feu | Portrait of a Lady on Fire (2019)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Auditor AU (to be precise), F/F, Fluff, Nonsense, Slow Burn, accounting au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-23
Updated: 2020-10-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 16:35:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 23,697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26062021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainfate/pseuds/darkeyes
Summary: aka "An Extensive Inquiry With Many Conclusions Into Balancing Romantic and Emotional Ledgers". Marianne LeFevre is a Manager at Le Cabinet D’Audit Dubois Renard, and the first client win she has puts her in the path of one Héloïse Devereaux.
Relationships: Héloïse & Marianne (Portrait of a Lady on Fire), Héloïse/Marianne (Portrait of a Lady on Fire)
Series: Auditor AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2075157
Comments: 141
Kudos: 247





	1. The Pursuit

**Author's Note:**

> The Accounting AU nobody needs. Special thanks to thejumpingrice for helping out with some ideas to get me started, missbelivet645_a for the excessively long alternative title, and everyone else who nudged me to write this. 
> 
> My first fic in AGES, and first multichap in as long as that! 
> 
> Please pretend that Marianne works at an accounting firm with Big Four-level resources. 
> 
> No auditors were harmed in the writing of this fic. That I know of.

Marianne was focused on her laptop, earphones in, scrolling through a particularly well-done workbook, raising some comments for slightly more detailed explanations where the documentation needed to be beefed up. The internal messaging app software gave out a soft ping in her earphone as the icon started to blink. The notification that came up at the bottom right of her screen showed that it was Christophe Beauchamp - one of the Partners in the firm.

_Marianne  
_ _Check your email  
_ _Give me a call after_

Marianne frowned - if it was urgent, Christophe would usually call her. Asking her to call him back was unusual but also meant he would be free to take the call. She pulled up Outlook, glancing at the emails she had been ignoring since she got back from lunch 2 hours ago - 50 unread messages, _great_. She scrolled past the ones that involved her staff debating different approaches to the work - she will check through that later - and found the email Christophe was possibly referring to.

_Date: 19 July 2019  
_ _From: Delphine Martel (_ [ _delphinemartel@ccomptes.fr_ ](mailto:delphinemartel@ccomptes.fr) _)  
_ _To: Christophe Beauchamp (_ [ _christophe.beauchamp@adr.com_ ](mailto:christophe.beauchamp@adr.com) _); Marianne LeFevre (_ [ _marianne.lefevre@adr.com_ ](mailto:marianne.lefevre@adr.com) _)_

_Hi both,_

_Thank you for participating in the formal pitch sessions at our offices last month. After much deliberations with the proposals presented to us, it is my pleasure to inform you that ADR has won the contract for the audit of the Seine-et-Marne Healthcare District from FY19 for 3 years._

_A formal acknowledgement with the engagement agreement will be sent to you in the coming days, with relevant instructions attached._

_I look forward to working with you and your team in the coming months._

_Regards,  
_ _Delphine Martel  
_ **_Director - Financial Audit Services  
_ ** **_Cour de Comptes - CRC Île-de-France_ **

Marianne grinned - finally, some good news. She moved to a jump-in jump-out room with her phone, Christophe picking up after a few rings.

“Marianne,” he said, “Job well done.”  
“Well, I didn’t do much at the pitch,” she responded, though she could not wipe the smile off her face if she tried.  
“Your first win as Manager, and a good fee on top of it. You need to celebrate.”  
“I’ll do that when I find the time to.”  
“Anyway - I’ll let you handle Delphine - get the contract to my assistant once we receive it and we’ll sign it off. Let me know if you have any questions on the setup.”  
“Sure thing.”  
“And Marianne -”  
“Yes?”  
“Make sure you leave work on time today. It’s the summer, enjoy it before another busy season descends upon us.”

Marianne laughed into the phone, “Christophe, if I did that, we’re not going to wrap up the Laiterie audit and you know it.” 

Marianne returned to her work, a load lifted off her shoulders. She had been fairly confident that they would win the audit, but it was always a relief to see the fruits of her labour, after months of gathering information for the proposal, culminating in the pitch at the Cour. 

She was just about to finish up for the day when Sophie popped up beside her. “Marianne! Will you be joining us for drinks after this?” she asked, very chipper considering the long week she’s had. Marianne contemplated for a bit - she _could_ do with a drink, and her team seemed eager to spend time with her out of the work. “Yeah, sure. You guys are going to the usual?” “Yup, Vincent has already gone to get us a table. Have to beat the crowd, you know?”

Marianne wanted to make a snappy remark about how free the Associate was to be able to go early to the bar to get a table, but it was a Friday and she did just go through a fairly smooth review of the team’s workbooks, so she decided to let it go instead. “I’ll see you there soon, I just need to clear a couple more things here,” she said to Sophie, who nodded and spun around on her heels, going back to the desks where the team were sat together. 

The noise of chatter was picking up around her, colleagues ready to unwind for the weekend. Finding herself unable to focus as well, Marianne decided that now was a good time to give up for the week, shut her laptop off, and join her team at the rooftop bar for drinks. Packing up, she silently left the corner desk she had been sitting at and walked to the lifts, willing the stress of the week to start rolling off her shoulders.

Swiping her ID card to exit the lift lobby, she walked out onto the Parisian streets, breathing in the air that was not entirely fresh but still a step up from air conditioning. The air was warm with a hint of summer humidity, and as a soft breeze blew while she was walking, she felt the tension in her body slowly melt away.

She was in a good mood when she walked up to the rooftop, joining her team and some colleagues at the table they had managed to secure. They were in the middle of a laughter-filled discussion about their weekend plans, Sophie immediately handing her a flute of champagne which she accepted gratefully. “Congratulations on your first pursuit win!” she said, as everyone around the table raised their glasses in salutation. Marianne felt her face flush, bashful. “Could not have gotten it across the line without help from you or Eugenie,” she said, acknowledging the two. “I wish I had time to help you out with that pursuit, Marianne,” Sara, Sophie’s housemate and fellow assistant manager said. “There will be other chances, I’m sure. Marianne’s going to be on the Partner track at the rate she’s going,” Sophie responded to her friend, while grinning at Marianne. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves there, Sophie. I don’t love Audit _that_ much,” was all Marianne said about that.

They were a number of rounds in when Sara offered to take the last round before the group dispersed for the night. Marianne was glad to have agreed to join them for drinks that evening. Some discoveries were made, like how some of the newer accountants were funnier than Marianne originally knew them to be, the casual setting helping everybody open up a little bit more.

Sara came back with the trays of drinks, though she looked alarmed, eyes wide, in a hurry to deposit the drinks to say something. "What the hell, Sara?" Sophie asked. "My dudes," Sara said dramatically, leaning in close to the table, forcing everyone else within earshot to lean in as well. "I just saw… the hottest person in this bar," 

Sophie rolled her eyes, leaning back away from the huddle, while the boys all popped their heads up, looking around trying to spot anyone who would fit Sara's description. "She was leaving when I saw her, sorry boys," Sara shrugged, which was met with boos from the boys and a playful shove from Sophie for getting everyone worked up for no reason. Marianne just grinned at the entire exchange.

"She had the most intense stare, it's like she was angry about being here. And she was so damn tall, so much legs." Sara said to anyone who would listen, which, at this point, was only Sophie and Marianne. Marianne could only laugh, she had never seen her mentee act this way before. "Maybe she _was_ angry about being here," Sophie asked, entertaining her friend. "Well, if I was here alone, surrounded by a bunch of HSBC-types, I would be angry too," Sara replied, before heaving a large, resigned sigh, "Alas, it is my lot in life to not be attracted to accounting and finance types. And I'm 90% sure she is one,"

"Firstly - HSBC-types? Why narrow things down to a specific bank?" Sophie asked, before continuing, "Secondly, how would you know she's an accounting type if you literally just saw her walk past you, and what if she's the exception?"

"Homme straight blanc cis, keep up with the times, Sophie," Sara was definitely under the influence of the alcohol at this point, "and I'll probably never see her again, so it doesn't matter." They all laughed, before Marianne finished the last of her wine and patted Sara on the shoulder, "Come on, you've had a lot to drink, let's get you home."

Sophie, Sara and Marianne bade farewell to the rest of the group, making their way to the Metro station. "Will you be okay to deal with her on your own?" Marianne asked Sophie softly, as they were approaching her station. Sara immediately popped up in her seat, leaning forward to Marianne, "I'm not that tipsy, I can still walk," she countered. "We'll be fine," Sophie nodded. Marianne gave the two of them one last look, and decided that they would both be alright without her. "Thanks for tonight, I'll see you guys around. Drop me a message once you're both home," she said as she stood up to alight at her stop, waving goodbye.


	2. Planning (Resourcing and Timing)

The contract with the Cour de Comptes was signed, and life was not slowing down for Marianne. Between reviewing and keeping things on track at her existing jobs while trying to ensure she had sufficient resources for the upcoming audit with the Cour, the weeks were blazing by. She had just ended a meeting at a client’s office at the 8th Arrondisement when she had to make her way across Paris to meet with the CRC team as well as the clients from the Healthcare District. She looked at her watch as she put her bag in her passenger seat, swearing when she realized that she had less time than originally planned.

She got to the lobby of the Seine-et-Marne Healthcare District office with exactly 5 minutes to spare, Christophe walking in at exactly the same time. Delphine walked in shortly after, with someone Marianne had never seen before. Christophe and her shook hands with Delphine, and proceeded to shake hands with the newcomer, Delphine introducing her.

“Christophe, Marianne, this is Héloïse Devereaux - she will be the Manager working on this engagement with me.”  
“Pleasure to meet you,” they exchanged as they shook hands. 

The first thing Marianne noticed was that Héloïse was about the same height as her. The second thought that came to her mind was that Héloïse was really young to be a Manager at the CRC, who tended to be older due to the slower promotion cycles in public service, while Héloïse appeared to be about the same age as her. The third thing she realized was that they were still shaking hands without breaking eye contact. And that Héloïse had a very intense gaze. Marianne immediately felt the heat rise up to her face - she did not know how long they had been shaking hands for. She loosened her grip immediately, Héloïse softly cleared her throat while offering the tiniest nod, dropping her hand. Thankfully, the Financial Controller and Reporting Manager for the Healthcare District walked in for more introductions and to lead them to the meeting room.

At the end of their meeting, they all shook hands again, exchanging the usual pleasantries of looking forward to working with each other soon. Christophe left for another client meeting nearby, and Delphine made her way to leave as well. Marianne looked at her watch - 4.30pm. Too late to beat the peak hour traffic back to her place, she decided to take the chance to ask if the meeting room would still be available for her to use while she waited out traffic. “Go ahead,” Anthony, the Financial Controller, said, “We had the room booked for the rest of the day. We all leave by 6.30pm, though, so you’ll have to clear out by then.” Marianne nodded in acknowledgment and thanked him - better get 2 hours of review time in now than to be stuck in traffic, and end up having to push her work back to later in the evening.

She turned around to make her way back in to the meeting room, but was surprised by the sight of Héloïse standing right behind her. Did she… follow her to speak with Anthony? They both stared at each other, slightly wide eyed from surprise. Just as Marianne was about to ask her what was up, Héloïse spoke up.

“I was going to ask Anthony the same thing.” 

“Right,” Marianne responded, just as Héloïse spun around to return to her seat in the room. Marianne returned to her own seat, diagonally across where Héloïse was seated. She frowned as she tried to focus on the workpapers that were open right in front of her, but she found it hard to ignore the tension she was feeling in the room.

Marianne glanced up from her laptop, head not moving so as not to alert Héloïse of her actions. She looked at the other Manager, squinting slightly. Héloïse’s curls were wispy if stylishly messy, currently tucked behind her ear. Her jawline could be described as aesthetically pleasing _,_ which Marianne could appreciate. Her expression was neutral, which, come to think of it - had been her expression the entire time. She never looked _bored_ during the meeting, she was certainly engaged, but she also never smiled. Not that anyone had made any jokes during the meeting, either, so it’s not like smiling was to be expected.

Marianne pulled her focus back onto her laptop screen - staring at people was _weird_ , stop doing that. She reread three lines in the workbook before she found herself looking at Héloïse again. The latter was completely silent, reading something or other off her own laptop screen, a single frown line forming when her brows knit together in complete focus. Just then, Héloïse blinked, and Marianne hurriedly looked away as she swore Héloïse had looked up right at her, almost catching her staring. Marianne felt her face heat up in the embarrassing prospect of being caught, heart pounding. 

She allowed her pulse to settle before she continued her work, making it a point not to regard Héloïse in any way lest she makes things any more awkward than it already was. 

Time flew by, and when she glanced at the clock it was 5 minutes before 6:30pm. When she looked up again, it looked like _Héloïse_ had been staring at her. Marianne didn't know what to do with that information. How does one interact with a stranger without being completely awkward? Even Marianne wasn't sure how she had managed to successfully navigate a career that required so much client interaction. 

“I’m going to pack up now. Will you be leaving soon? The finance team will be locking up in a bit,” Héloïse's voice cut through her thoughts. Marianne blinked. “Yeah, I’m just about done here,” she replied, making sure her files were saved before turning her laptop off and packing her stuff up. “I’ll see you around,” Héloïse said from the door, nodding at Marianne, who waved in response. 

Well, that was an interesting encounter.

****

The next day, Marianne met up with Sophie for a meeting to discuss the plan for the audit. “What’s the timeline like?” Sophie asked as she shut the door to the meeting room they occupied. “Tight,” was Marianne’s initial response. “We need to start Planning work as soon as we have any free time, and we have to report on the September pro-forma numbers by the end of November. We will need to arrange for a file review of the prior year workpapers at the Cour de Comptes offices as well.”

Sophie nodded, taking notes as Marianne scrolled through her own notes for the reporting dates that were discussed in yesterday’s meeting. “Do you need me to help you discuss with the Scheduling team on staffing?” she asked. “No, I’ve done that already,” Marianne opened up the scheduling page to show Sophie. “Ooh, the dream team, this is going to be fun,” Sophie grinned as she saw the names on the screen. “How did you manage to wrangle them onto our team?” she asked, and Marianne only gave her a smirk as an answer. “ _You’re_ no fun,” Sophie rolled her eyes.

They went through the rest of Marianne’s list, splitting tasks between the two of them and discussing how they could allocate the remaining tasks across the rest of the team.

“So let’s lock in review times for myself and Christophe, and I’ll send a few options over to Héloïse over at the CRC to sort out Delphine’s timing as well.” Marianne instructed once they were done. Sophie nodded, telling her she’ll get the calendar invites out before the end of the day. “I’ll get the process going to set up our charge code,” Marianne informed Sophie.

“By the way, Sara, Amélie, Eugenie and I were headed back to Nodd for drinks after work today. Want to come with?” Sophie stuck her head back into the room to ask. Marianne considered the invite for a moment, before smiling, “Is Sara still looking for her mysterious hot woman?” Sophie grinned, “She refuses to admit it, but I’m fairly certain that she is.” 

“You even managed to convince Amélie to come with?” 

“Eugenie did, and we’re not allowing her to ditch us yet again.”

“Yeah, sure. You can tell the two of them we’ve booked them on the job, too.”

“Sure thing, boss.”


	3. Planning (Scoping and Strategy)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SURPRISE MIDWEEK UPDATE! Enjoy, everyone! Thanks for following this so far...

Marianne was standing outside the CRC Île-de-France office building, waiting on her senior team members to arrive. She looked at her watch - they still had 10 minutes to spare, so it’s not like they were late yet. As she looked up, she saw a familiar blue Peugeot reverse into a nearby parking spot. Shortly after, Sophie and Kevin stepped out of the car and made their way to Marianne. “Traffic alright?” Marianne asked, making small talk. “Yeah, going in the opposite direction of peak traffic is always welcome,” Kevin replied. They made their way to the lobby of the building, where Héloïse was supposed to meet them.

She looked around, trying to see if Héloïse was already there waiting for them, but the other Manager was nowhere to be seen. She checked her watch again, noting that they still had 5 minutes before their agreed meet up time, so they were alright for time. 

Just then, Héloïse walked out of the lift lobby, approaching the three ADR auditors with long, confident strides. “Welcome to CRC Île-de-France,” Héloïse said when she was close enough. “Sophie Delacroix, Assistant Manager,” Sophie introduced herself, shaking Héloïse’s hand. “Kevin Blanchet, Senior Accountant,” Kevin followed, giving a firm handshake of his own. “Héloïse Devereaux, Manager, nice to meet you.” she returned to them individually, voice higher and lighter than her facial expression showed. “Good to see you again,” Marianne offered her own hand out for a shake, which Héloïse accepted with a particularly strong grip, “Likewise,” Héloïse tipped her head once for a nod. Was that a hint of a smile on her face?

They were doing it again. Marianne didn’t know how long they had clasped hands for, but she assumed it was for an inappropriately long amount of time because she suddenly noticed Sophie entering the edge of her vision, eyes narrowed. Marianne hastily pulled her hand back, hoping it didn’t come across as rude. Why were they in some sort of staring and hand shaking competition to see who would look away first, anyway?

“Follow me,” Héloïse said abruptly, spinning around to lead them to the lifts. “We’ve got 3 laptops set up for you to do your review,” she added as they were walking. Marianne thought Héloïse might continue talking, but she didn’t. They stepped out of the lifts and walked through a long corridor of meeting rooms, Marianne taking the opportunity to glance at what Héloïse was wearing. She suddenly felt overdressed, her pantsuit looking very formal compared to the slightly more relaxed outfit Héloïse had on. Maybe she should have kept her jacket in her car instead, putting it on only when she was at the audit committee meeting she was attending after this particular meeting and file review. Héloïse was wearing a pair of grey pants that highlighted the length of her legs as she continued her stride, her crisp white shirt sleeves rolled up to her forearms. Marianne, keeping pace as she watched the back of Héloïse’s head, observing the stray curls of her fringe that was tucked behind her ear, was two steps away from running into Héloïse when the latter abruptly stopped in front of a door. Marianne was relieved she managed to stop in time, taking a second to erase the expression of shock from her face. Marianne’s eyes locked with Héloïse’s for a fraction of a second before breaking it off as she pushed the door open.

“Shall we start with some queries on last year’s audit, before moving on to the file review?” Marianne asked, after everyone was set up. Héloïse nodded, steepling her hands together, ready for the meeting to commence.

****

Marianne was focused on getting through her sections of the file review as quickly as possible, compiling her questions for Héloïse once she had enough background on the issue at hand. They were sitting beside each other, which was a good deterrent for Marianne from staring at Héloïse’s face too much. Héloïse was typing away on her laptop, either writing a really long email or message, or raising what had to be a million review notes, causing Marianne to pull her eyes from her own work for a moment, shifting them to watch Héloïse’s fingers gracefully travel over her own keyboard. She wasn’t bashing away at her keyboard, but she  _ was _ a very fast typist, which impressed Marianne. It made her wonder if Héloïse played any instruments...

A work-related thought suddenly popped into her head, forcing her to shift her focus back to the matters at hand. She only had two hours before she had to leave, and she wanted to be sure she had everything she needed before her time was up - they would not have access to the files after this. Being distracted was unusual for her, so she rallied herself to concentrate on the task at hand.

The time passed with Kevin and Sophie each occasionally piping up with questions for Marianne, and Marianne finally going through her queries regarding the prior year work with Héloïse, making the necessary notes based on the latter’s responses. 

Just before she wrapped up her session, she turned to Héloïse, who looked up at her with a questioning eyebrow raised when she noticed Marianne’s movements. “How long have you audited this client for?” she asked. “Since I joined the CRC as a graduate,” Héloïse answered. Impressive. That would be quite a number of years. Marianne’s expression would have told Héloïse her train of thought, without her having to say anything. “Anything in particular about the clients that we should be aware of? What their preference is regarding how we communicate, etc?” Marianne followed up. The flash of surprise that went across Héloïse’s face was not missed.

“Anthony’s generally easy to deal with - you would have noticed from our meeting the other day that he is more than willing to share information. It would not be unusual if he gives you way more information that you actually need, but that’s useful in some situations. Other times, it just means you spend more time than needed to get what you want. They’re staffed alright for their size, though they can sometimes be overwhelmed by the volume of work they have. The team is generally easy to deal with, there’s no one in particular you should be worried about. Some of them aren’t the most technical accountants, but that’s par for the course with government agencies,” 

Marianne nodded, hoping that Sophie and Kevin also filed that information away in their brains. “Thank you for being candid. Well, then. I have an audit committee meeting to attend so I will take my leave for now. I will leave Sophie and Kevin to continue with the review,” she informed Héloïse. “Give me a ring if you have any questions, you have access to my calendar so you know when I’m done with the AC.” she said while turning to her team, who nodded in response. 

Héloïse stood up with Marianne, picking up her laptop as well. “I have other things to attend to as well - Guille will remain here to accompany the two of you,” she said to Marianne’s team, while indicating the accountant who had walked in not too long ago to supervise the file review.

They walked to the lifts together, Marianne trying to figure out what she could say to Héloïse to make this whole walk less awkward. Héloïse seemed perfectly fine with the silence, though, which was somewhat of a relief for Marianne, whose brain was now buzzing with white noise.

After what felt like an eternity, they found themselves at the ground floor lift lobby again. This time, Héloïse offered her hand for a shake. “See you around,” she said. Marianne didn't trust herself to not say something stupid, so all she did was nod, smiling slightly, before releasing Héloïse’s hand after an appropriate amount of time and speed walking her way back to her car.

As she pulled out onto the road and took a few deep breaths, she managed to get her racing heart back to normal. What was it about being around Héloïse that made her brain shut itself down time and again?  _ Pull it together, Marianne _ , she told herself, tightening her grip on her steering wheel, right hand over the stick shift, willing her mind to focus on her driving and to mentally prepare for her next meeting.

****

“How did the rest of the file review go?” Marianne asked Sophie and Kevin when they were back in the office the next day. “I honestly don’t know how they’ve been calling the work they did an  _ audit _ this whole time,” Sophie grumbled. “Their methodology is… really weird,” Kevin supplied. Marianne waited for either one of them to elaborate. “Some of it is standard audit stuff, while other bits… are just reviews of the accounts. No test of details, no substantive analytical procedures - just movement analytics. Even though the balance was material. I don’t know how they got any comfort over some of the work they did.” Sophie sighed, clearly frustrated. “It’ll be super fun going to convince the clients that we’re going to be doing a lot more testing this year than they’re used to.”

Marianne did not like the sound of that. Clients who were not prepared for the extent of testing that would come always spelled trouble. 

“Do we have enough information from their walkthroughs and controls testing to be able to come up with a rough work plan?” Marianne asked. Sophie made a non-committal sound. “I’d rather set up calls with the clients at this point to verify the process is still the same before we do anything on that, just in case,” Kevin replied. Sophie nodded in agreement, “They didn’t take a controls approach for a number of things so it’s something we could set up right, from the get-go. We’ll split the work between ourselves and the team, I’m sure everyone can spare an hour to help go through a phone call each, it’s not like we’re in the middle of our peak period at the moment. Otherwise I’ll just ask the Scheduling team to help.”

“Good idea. Let’s try to get this sorted before everyone starts going on their summer breaks. Then it will give us more time to lock down a testing approach and we’ll be better positioned for the field work phase,” Marianne nodded to her seniors, before they dispersed for the day.


	4. Interim Audit (Reporting)

The team were meant to start their interim fieldwork today, and Marianne scheduled to spend the whole day with them, just in case they needed some extra help settling in since it was everyone’s first time meeting the finance team. She could trust them to handle themselves, having worked with them on another client, but it always made a good impression on the client to have a Manager around once in a while, especially on the first day of a new engagement.

She had scheduled an opening meeting with Anthony that morning, with the plan to bring Sophie along to introduce her to him, as she would be the main point of contact for him when Marianne could not be around. Sat in the room the receptionist brought her to, she waited as the rest of the team filtered in, various levels of awake.

“Gooooood morning, everyone,” Sophie swept in, announcing her arrival to the room, getting responses of various levels of enthusiasm, “I bring forth coffee and croissants!” she placed the carefully balanced trays down, Amélie making an especially appreciative sound as she leaned over to grab her coffee. 

“Amélie, it’s your first day on a new job, you can’t be that worn out already?” Marianne asked her accountant, amused. “I was on that American client before this, Marianne. I’m still catching up on my sleep debt,” she grumbled. Ah, yes. One of Amélie’s recurring jobs… that she did not like.

“I keep telling you to roll off the job, Amélie, but do you listen to me? Noooo.” Sophie remarked.  
“And I keep telling you to avoid SOX clients,” Kevin added.  
“Alright, that’s enough for now. Poor Amélie isn’t going to last the week at this rate,” Marianne intervened, “Are you expecting any follow up from that team?” she asked, turning to Amélie.  
“No, thank goodness. The Director did the review on Thursday and I had cleared all my review notes by Friday. I’m just not looking forward to having to _meet new people_.”  
“Yes, you’ve said that many times already, Amélie, but it’s the reality of our job,” Sophie interjected, not unkindly.  
“It’s alright, Amélie will power through it, like she always does,” Eugenie nodded at her friend encouragingly.  
“ _You’re_ going to befriend everyone in this building by the end of the 3 weeks we’re here,” Kevin laughed.  
“Hey, if it gets me information, it works.” Eugenie responded.

“Alright, I’ll give everyone a rundown on the structure of the Healthcare District we’re auditing, then you can have a look at the work allocation prepared and start setting up accordingly. Sophie and I have a meeting with Anthony, the Financial Controller, in about half an hour, and I’ll ask him to introduce us to his team after that.” Marianne stood from her seat, taking a whiteboard marker. When she was sure everyone was ready, she started, drawing diagrams to supplement her explanation on the group structure and summarizing the plan for the 3 weeks they were on site.

****

Between dialing in on several meetings and answering her team’s questions, the day was proving to be a quick one for Marianne. Before she knew it, it was 4pm and as she was hanging up on another discussion, Héloïse had just replied to her email asking for Delphine’s and her own availability for close meeting timings. 

“The close meeting is going to be on the 14th, followed by the CRC file review - Sophie, will you be available on that day?” Marianne asked as she re-entered the audit room, sliding the glass door behind her shut. “Let me check my calendar,” Sophie responded, clicking away at her laptop to check, “Ah, shit, I need to be in Marseille for a client meeting that day.” Marianne checked her own calendar - there were a couple of non-essential meetings she could move around. “That’s fine, I’ve got availability that day so I’ll stay with Héloïse for the file review.”

“So, Héloïse Devereaux,” Sophie started. There was something conspiratorial in her tone, and Marianne was already dreading where this conversation was going to lead to. She could choose to ignore Sophie, but she knew Sophie could press her if she really wanted to, and there was no one else in the room at the moment, so it might be better to get the conversation over and done with sooner rather than later.

“What about Héloïse Devereaux?” Marianne asked.

“She’s kind of hot, wouldn’t you say?”

The speed at which Sophie asked that made Marianne wonder how long she had been sitting on the question for.

“That’s unprofessional, Sophie.”  
“Please. Don’t come for me with another one of your ‘but I need to maintain independence’ spiels - we audit on behalf of the Cour des Comptes but it’s not like you report directly to her. If anything, _Christophe_ reports to _Delphine_ , and you and her are both middle men. Women.”  
“You’ve spent way too much time thinking about this.”  
“She was totally checking you out when we went to their office to do the file review, you know.”

 _What? No._ Marianne couldn’t help but pull her eyes away from her laptop to look incredulously at Sophie, at that statement. Sophie had a smug smile on her face, pleased that she finally got Marianne’s full attention.

“Yeah. When she was holding on to the door to let us all into the meeting room? She was pretty subtle about it but I totally saw her checking you out.”  
“You probably need to get _your_ eyes checked.”  
“Please. I know you almost walked into her back. What were you doing, anyway? Staring at her ass?”

“I was not.” Marianne immediately shot back, heat rising to her face. "Ooh, defensive," Sophie waggled her eyebrows, “You should totally try asking her out, anyway,” she continued. Marianne chose not to engage any further with this conversation. So what if Sophie was right, that Héloïse had checked her out that day at the CRC office? Héloïse probably just appreciated well-tailored suits. The whole point Marianne got a number of suits tailored after getting her promotion to Manager was so that she would look good at client meetings. Héloïse noticing just proved that Marianne’s money was well-spent. And who was she to assume that Héloïse was also into women? No, not possible.

The rest of the team shuffled in one by one, and Marianne was glad that it was the end of that conversation with Sophie. She looked at her to-do list for the day, mentally groaning at its growing length with nothing having been crossed out. 

****

The 14th of November came by, marking another hectic week for Marianne as she scrambled to make sure her interim audits would be cleared in time before the year end slate of training sessions and holiday season descended upon them.

She was sat in a meeting room, once again, with Christophe, Delphine and Héloïse. They had gone through the agenda of the close meeting, Marianne highlighting any issues they had found and action points required for all parties that had to be resolved before the year end audit or followed up with then. 

“As you would know, we do a number of audits on behalf of the CdC,” Christophe said, once he was certain all other matters were covered, “And some Partners, including myself, have been speaking with Sebastien about expanding our data analytics offerings to the CdC - we’re hosting a workshop on the 25th of this month specifically for the CdC, if you’re interested in joining”

“Oh, yes. Sebastien is very keen on the whole data analytics thing, and did mention it to me the other week,” Delphine responded, “We’ve signed up for the session.” Christophe nodded, “We look forward to seeing you there, then. Our Marianne here will be facilitating part of the session.” Marianne could feel Héloïse’s eyes boring into her skull. 

“I have to run for another meeting. Héloïse will stay for the file review. Thank you both for your time,” Delphine concluded, standing up and shaking hands with both Christophe and Marianne. “Let me walk you out - I have to go as well,” Christophe said as he pulled the door open for Delphine. They both exited, leaving Héloïse and Marianne in the room to continue working.

“Shall I run you through how to get to our files?” Marianne asked, to which Héloïse nodded wordlessly. Marianne moved to the seat beside Héloïse, pulling herself closer to the loaner laptop they had set up for the review. She showed Héloïse how to navigate through the software, occasionally turning to make eye contact to make sure Héloïse was following. There was something about the way Héloïse looked that was so intense, which almost made Marianne want to turn away too soon every time their eyes connected, but Marianne resolved to power through. She would not be intimidated by some Cour des Comptes auditor. No matter how smart they probably were because they were definitely getting fast promotions to reach the level they were at, at the age she assumed they were at.

“I’m surprised you didn’t get someone more junior to accompany me for the file review,” Héloïse suddenly said, an hour and a half into said review. Marianne was caught off guard by the sudden interaction. “Sophie was not available, I didn’t have any urgent client meetings today, and since it’s all our first year on this arrangement I figured it best that I be here in the event that you have any questions about the work performed. I was not going to stick a hapless accountant in here with you - they wouldn’t be particularly helpful.”

Héloïse did not say anything after that, only smiling slightly to herself. They both turned back to their respective laptops, resuming their work.

Héloïse announced that she was done, not long after a string of questions that Marianne easily fielded that Héloïse appeared satisfied with the answers for. She shut the lids to the laptops in front of her, and started to pack, while Marianne did not - she fully intended on using the meeting room for the rest of the afternoon, away from her colleagues at the audit levels, where they would have more questions and Marianne would never be able to finish the work she currently had on her plate.

Before indicating that she was going to leave, though, Héloïse made her way to the windows, looking out at the Paris skyline spread out in front of her. “What a view, huh?” she asked. Marianne moved to stand beside her, looking out below. The view from the client floors never ceased to amaze her. They were in a tower at the edge of La Defense, and the room they were currently in happened to be facing in the general direction of the Arc du Triomphe and the Eiffel Tower, both of which could be seen from their vantage point. 

“It’s even better after sundown,” Marianne said, taking in the orange hues of the mid-autumn sunset in front of her. “The way everything is lit up - it’s magical.” She chanced a glance at Héloïse, who was still looking out at the view, no doubt trying to imagine what that would look like. There was a sort of softness in her eyes and expression that Marianne had never noticed before, and it made Marianne wonder what else would make Héloïse carry the same expression. “Well, maybe I will see for myself one of these days,” Héloïse concluded, turning to face Marianne, who only nodded. “I’ll walk you out,” Marianne offered, Héloïse not protesting.

“I’ll see you in a couple of weeks,” Héloïse said lightly, when they were standing before the gantries separating the lifts from the main lobby. A look of confusion must have swept across Marianne’s face for a split second because Héloïse clarified a moment later - “The data analytics course.”

Ah, yes, that. “See you in a couple of weeks,” she returned. With another tip of her head, Héloïse made her way to the receptionist who then swiped her out. Marianne turned around and made her way back up to the client floor to finish her work before calling it a day.


	5. Workshop

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another cheeky midweek update. Enjoy!

In a blink of an eye, the two weeks had blown by and it was the day of the Cour des Comptes data analytics training session. Marianne was mildly nervous as she cycled through her slides with the Director who was running the session with her. “You’re quieter than usual this morning,” François said. 

“Just need to remember to keep things simple,” Marianne voiced out her thoughts, more for her own benefit than his, “There are terms we use that are firm-specific, I just need to make sure I avoid using too much of that.” 

He nodded in agreement then reassured her, “You’ll be fine.”

It was almost like a small classroom training session, except instead of the Accountants and Seniors she was used to facilitating other training sessions for, these were CdC auditors of much higher levels, from Managers to Partner-equivalent executives. The only faces she knew in the room, besides her own Data Analytics specialists who were on hand to help with any queries that may come up and François, who was leading the whole thing, was Héloïse, who Marianne had spotted was sitting with Delphine a few rows from the front of the room. Héloïse had a slight frown on her face while she listened intently to whatever it was the person next to her was saying, nodding occasionally. For a moment, Marianne wondered what their conversation might be about that would cause Héloïse to listen with such great focus.

“Alright, it’s 9:30, everyone has settled in, I think we can start,” François clapped his hand together, bringing all the attention in the room to him and breaking Marianne out of her reverie.

Go time.

The session ran without a hitch, punctuated by breaks for morning tea and then lunch. The afternoon session was run more like a workshop, and before they all realized it, it was the afternoon tea break. Marianne stepped out of the room for a moment, checking her phone for any messages she might have received from lunch until that point in time, smiling to herself when she saw Sara’s message that an issue they found at their client that morning had been resolved and Marianne did not need to intervene any more. 

She felt Héloïse’s presence before she saw her, the latter clearly not wanting to intrude if Marianne was busy. She gave Héloïse a small nod to join her in the corner she was standing at, overlooking Paris below.

“I never looked at data analytics that way before,” Héloïse said in lieu of any kind of greeting. Marianne raised an inquisitive eyebrow - it was just data analytics. “What you said earlier about it - like a painting,” Héloïse clarified. 

“Ah,” Marianne responded nodding. She then let out a small, sheepish laugh. “Well, it helps paint a picture of how our clients maintain their books, doesn’t it? We hope that they have the technical know-how to do it, to keep their journal entries organized and logical, that the data paints us a Monet or a Rembrandt,” Marianne shrugged.

“There’s a but there, isn’t there?” Héloïse’s lips turned up into the smirk. Marianne paused, still not used to seeing Héloïse show this much emotion, though she found herself grinning. “But most of the time, they end up looking like a 3 year old’s attempt at finger painting.” She watched as Héloïse’s face split into a full grin, the quick exhale of a silent laugh accompanying it. Héloïse turned to look at the view of Paris again, much like the time they were doing the file review together, except this time Marianne felt like some of that ice she had felt around Héloïse when they first met was finally melting away.

Marianne’s phone buzzed, interrupting them. “I look forward to the final session,” Héloïse gave a small reassuring smile to Marianne as she made her way back into the training room, leaving Marianne to answer her phone.

****

The session concluded with many a satisfied CdC auditor, some mingling for more questions while others shook hands, thanked François and Marianne and made their way out for whatever the rest of their Friday evening plans were. Benoit Laurent, ADR’s Innovation Partner, had come up to close the session and was happy to entertain some CdC executives along with François, relieving Marianne from the need to mingle much longer. She noticed Héloïse hovering nearby again, clearly waiting for her. This time, Marianne walked over the Héloïse, who was shuffling in place, hands behind her back, slightly slouched.

“Headed off for the day?” Marianne asked, glad for the opportunity to break the ice a little bit more. “Not quite yet,” came the response. Héloïse tilted her head to the side, a silent request for Marianne to come along with her. They found themselves back by the giant windows, overlooking the city. With winter already here, the Sun had set while they were in the training session, and the city lights were flickering. Héloïse took her time to regard the scene before her, and after an indeterminate amount of time, Marianne tore her eyes away from Héloïse’s face and looked at the city below. It had been a while since she last spent this much time looking at the Paris skyline at night, and it made her wish she had her camera with her so she could capture an image of this moment. Or try to capture an image of the way Héloïse was looking out at the city below. 

“Marianne!” a voice cut through her thoughts like a jolt through the system, causing her to jump slightly in shock. She turned around, only to face Sophie. “My God, Sophie. Give a woman some warning next time,” she chastised. She could see that Héloïse was bemused by the interaction. 

“Sophie, you remember Héloïse -” Sophie put her hand out to shake Héloïse’s, “Of course. Good to see you again, Mademoiselle Devereaux,” Sophie finished Marianne’s sentence. “Please, just Héloïse is fine,” she stated, offering a warm smile. 

“The girls and I are headed for after-work drinks again. Care to join us?” Sophie asked, turning her attention to Marianne. “If you don’t have any plans this evening, you can join us too,” Sophie added, this time turning to Héloïse, who looked surprised at being addressed and invited. Marianne squinted at Sophie, trying to wordlessly ask the younger woman what she was playing at. Sophie ignored her.

Marianne then glanced at Héloïse, who shrugged. 

“Yeah, okay, I’ll join you ladies,” Marianne said to Sophie. She then turned to Héloïse, “Why don’t you come with, assuming you’re free?” she asked. “It’s a nearby rooftop bar so you don’t completely lose this view,” 

Cool, sufficiently casual, and hopefully enough to dissuade Sophie from whatever she was trying to do.

Héloïse looked at Marianne for a while, the latter finding it easier not to wither under the intensity of Héloïse’s gaze, having been subject to it a number of times now. “Sure,” was all Héloïse said.

****

Everyone was in good spirits as they left the office - Sophie had gone ahead without them (no doubt her ploy to leave Marianne alone with Héloïse whatever opportunity she got), but if anything the last 8 hours taught her, it was that she could more than tolerate Héloïse’s presence. In fact, Marianne might say she was interested to find out more about the other Manager, and the opportunity had presented itself at a good time.

“I can’t wait for the year end break,” Héloïse piped up as the lift descended, the obvious attempt at small talk catching Marianne by surprise. Okay, then. Héloïse still keeps her off-balance. Maybe because it’s Friday. “Same, it’s been a really long year and I barely got a break over summer,” Marianne replied before she left Héloïse hanging for too long. 

“Have you been to Nodd before?” Marianne asked, as they made their way across the street to the building with the bar in question. “The name wasn’t familiar, but now as we’re walking towards the building, I’m pretty sure I’ve been there at least once before, a while ago.” Héloïse answered. 

Tip toeing to try to spot her team, Marianne finally found the top of Eugenie’s head among the crowd. They pushed their way through the crowd, towards the table, where everyone was introduced to a surprisingly genial Héloïse. Marianne was looking around at the venue while Héloïse politely answered Eugenie’s questions about absolutely nothing work-related. Marianne always admired Eugenie’s ability to carry a conversation even with the most closed off of people, though sometimes she wondered if Eugenie’s previous career as a registered nurse had anything to do with it.

Marianne spotted Sara turning around from the bar, drinks and glasses in hand, when she noticed Sara’s eyes go wide at something over Marianne’s shoulder, before she hurriedly turned around back to the bar. Marianne frowned, turning to see what would have caused such a reaction from Sara, but didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. “I’m going to help Sara bring the drinks over!” Sophie announced, as she made her way to her friend at the bar.

Marianne watched, intrigued, as Sara pulled Sophie close as soon as the latter was within arm’s reach, the two of them hissing at each other’s ears while occasionally glancing back at the general direction of their table. Those two had some explaining to do, because that did not look suspicious _at all_. The last thing she saw before being pulled back into conversation with Héloïse was Sara letting out a groan and bringing her hand up to cover her eyes in apparent disappointment. 

“Aaaaand we’ve got champagne for everyone,” Sara announced as she placed the bottle on the table, setting down a few flutes while Sophie put the rest of the flutes down as well. Marianne noticed that Sara’s tone was positively chipper, considering how she looked when she had her conversation with Sophie earlier. 

“What’s the occasion?” Amélie asked. “You actually joining us for drinks again,” Eugenie immediately said to Amélie. Sara laughed, “I don’t know about you, but I’m done with reporting for my clients for the rest of the year. All I have now is to sort through admin nonsense and then it’s the year end break!”

“Wait. Why did we get champagne and not Vin Chaud?” Sophie asked mid-pour. Sara slowly turned to look at her, eyes wide in faux horror, “Because I wanted champagne, Sophie, and I _paid for it_.” Sophie gave her a shit-eating grin. 

“Simmer down, children, we can get mulled wine later if you like,” Marianne cut in before they could continue. She glanced over at Héloïse, hoping she wasn’t too weirded out by the group just yet, but Héloïse was looking back at her with a small smile, apparently accepting this interaction as perfectly normal human behaviour.

“I’m Sara, by the way,” she introduced herself as she passed Héloïse a champagne flute. “I’m not on the Seine-et-Marne audit but I work with Marianne on another hospital client.” “Nice to meet you,” Héloïse responded, accepting the flute. Marianne expected Sara to try to make conversation, except she went around the table to chat with Amélie instead. It made her wonder if it had anything to do with her conversation with Sophie at the bar, or if it was just her being awkward around new people when she didn’t have to be ‘on’ to socialize with people.

The mood among the group was light, the prospect of the holidays descending upon them soon proving to be a source of buoyancy. Sara, ever the comedienne, said something really dumb that caused a collective groan around the table while Marianne threw her head back to laugh, shaking her head as she brought it down, facepalming. She turned to Héloïse, wanting to apologize for the antics of her colleague, but Héloïse was grinning at her, also shaking her head, clearly amused. 

When they finished the champagne, they all got some of the mulled wine that Sophie so badly wanted. "Better not drink too much, though," Eugenie remarked. "Why?" Marianne asked, curious. "We're watching a movie together after this, I want to be coherent for it," came the response. “It’s Chambre 212 - you wouldn’t be interested,” Sophie waved her hand. Marianne was going to retort, except Sophie was right - it was a movie she had no interest in. “Marianne’s too discerning to watch movies like that,” Sara added with a wink, which caused Marianne to squint at her. 

“Guess I’ll just have dinner on my own, then,” Marianne shrugged. “I don’t have anything on this evening, I can accompany you,” Héloïse suggested, to Marianne’s surprise.

“I...” Marianne started, unsure, "Okay." she ended simply.

Marianne chose to ignore the snort she most definitely heard from Sophie and the choking sound that came from Sara’s general direction.


	6. Interlude

“We better make a move and make our way to the cinema,” Eugenie said, looking at her watch. 

They walked out of Nodd as a group, before waving goodbye to the others, telling them to enjoy their movie. It was just Héloïse and herself, and Héloïse turned to Marianne, hands stuffed in her pockets, shoulders brought up to her neck where a scarf was wrapped around to keep her warm. “We probably should have thought of where we wanted to go for dinner before leaving Nodd,” Héloïse chuckled, her breath visible in the cold air. “Oof, I know,” Marianne agreed. “Do you have any particular place in mind?” 

Héloïse could have shrugged, but Marianne would not have noticed it, “I’m up for anything, really. I do like trying out new spots and different cuisines.” she said. Marianne racked her brain for ideas, before remembering a place she had meant to check out but never had the time to. “What are your thoughts on Mexican?” she asked, “I’ve been meaning to try a place in the 9th arrondissement, if you don’t mind the trip there?” 

Héloïse nodded enthusiastically, “I do enjoy checking out a good taqueria. What’s the place you had in mind?” she asked as they made their way to the Metro station. “El Nopal? A Mexican secondee I worked with said it was authentic,” “Ah, yes. I have heard of that place. I haven’t tried it before either.”

Their Metro ride to the 9th arr. was fairly quiet, neither of them really knowing what to say to the other. Marianne felt like she needed to keep some conversation going, otherwise she would not survive the awkwardness of the entire dinner. “So, what are your plans for the holidays?” she asked casually, looking over to Héloïse, who had her mask of indifference back on as they sat in the Metro. Her expression softened when she looked at Marianne to respond, “Oh, I’m headed out of Paris for the first time in years. Visiting my mother in Quiberon.” 

“I can’t imagine the northwestern coast to be any warmer than Paris in the winter.”  
“It isn’t. But it’s bearable, when it isn’t windy.”  
“And is it usually windy, that time of year?”  
“No, it’s more wet… which I actually like. I find the rain refreshing.”

Marianne was honestly surprised that she had not found this chit chat about _the weather_ painfully dull yet. “What about you? Are you staying in Paris for the break?” Héloïse asked. Marianne nodded, “Pretty much. I’m spending Christmas with my parents in Saint-Denis. I don’t have any other plans at the moment, though I might take some day trips out by train. Get out of the city for a bit.”

They reached the taqueria, the silence between them settling to something more comfortable than awkward. They ordered a variety of food to share, and launched into a lively discussion of places they had travelled to and places they would love to travel to. “Last winter, I was lucky enough to travel to Japan,” Marianne said, smiling at the memory of that trip. “A friend of mine has a brother working for BNP Paribas, and he was based out of the Tokyo office back then. We took the opportunity to head out that way to visit while he was still there. Spent almost 3 weeks out there - would love to go there again. What a place to travel to.”

“I’ve never been,” Héloïse commented offhandedly, “Though it has been on my list of holiday destinations for a while, now,” “Oh, you _must_ go,” Marianne said excitedly. “The food, the people, the culture, the architecture - it is a completely different world.”

Héloïse smiled at Marianne’s enthusiasm, which was infectious. “I’ll take that under advisement.”

Their food arrived at the table as Héloïse was recounting to Marianne her trip to Chile and Argentina during her gap year between university and starting full-time work. She vividly recalled her adventures through Patagonia and the sights she saw. “It was a Contiki-type tour, though, so it was pretty wild,” Héloïse added. Marianne never pictured Héloïse as the kind of person who would go on a Contiki Tour. “I still don’t know how I let anyone convince me to go on a tour like that one, goodness knows I don’t party at all, but the views were great. If I were to ever go back, though, I’d rather go it alone than take a tour.”

Marianne was nodding, “You didn’t strike me as someone who would party hard.” Her statement seemed to have piqued Héloïse’s interest, who tilted her head sideways inquisitively, mid-bite. “I don’t know, it was just a vibe that I got,” Marianne shrugged. Smooth. “The nachos are really good, by the way. Their pico de gallo is fantastic.”

“And yourself?” Héloïse asked as she picked up a loaded nacho, one eyebrow raised, slight smirk on her face, “Do _you_ party hard, like the stereotypes one usually hears about accountants from ADR?” Marianne felt the heat rise to her face, unsure whether it was from the chilli or from Héloïse bringing up the open secret that was the reputation of ADR accountants among the audit scene. “I could never quite keep up with it,” she admitted. Héloïse’s smile at her response was enough to tell her that Marianne’s answer was exactly what she was expecting.

“Why party when you can spend that money trying out new restaurants and food, anyway?” Marianne asked. Héloïse, surprisingly, nodded in agreement, “I have a list of places I’d like to try out. If I’m feeling fancy, I try to check out some Michelin starred restaurants.” Of course Héloïse would be the kind of person to have a list of restaurants she wanted to go to. But Marianne couldn’t fault her for it - she herself had a similar list, and there definitely were a few Michelin starred places on that list. She let Héloïse know as much. “I do, too. This taqueria was on my list.”

It turned out to be a rather fun night, the conversation flowing easily between the both of them. They were even having a session complaining about their clients. “At least your clients know how to account for things,” Héloïse said at one point. “Some of those Arrondissements? Their ‘accountants’ have no idea what they’re doing half the time. A lot of my time is spent trying to fix their shit.” “I totally understand how you feel,” Marianne nodded emphatically.

They parted ways at the Metro station, each headed in a different direction, but not before a non-awkward handshake was exchanged. “I enjoyed my time out tonight. Thank you for inviting me along,” Héloïse smiled. “I will have to convey your thanks to Sophie, then. If she didn’t ask me out for drinks tonight, I wouldn’t have planned on spending the night out, either.” Marianne admitted.

“I’ll see you around.”

****

A week later, Héloïse asked Marianne if she wanted to check out a restaurant on her List. Marianne agreed.

“We should make this a regular thing,” Héloïse brought up, as they split another bill, minds still processing the latest meal they had just tried, this time at a Portuguese restaurant. “Isn’t that what we’re technically already doing?” Marianne laughed. Trust someone like Héloïse to want to have a more structured thing. Héloïse shrugged, “It’s only been two times. That hardly constitutes as regular.”

“Well, it’s about as off-peak as work can be, this time of year, so I can free up some time.” Marianne shrugged. “I work in government, so we stick to official work hours, I’m flexible.” Héloïse stated. “Okay,” Marianne grinned, “Let’s tick restaurants off our ‘Want to Try’ list, then.” “That sounds like fun,” Héloïse responded, looking back at Marianne with a grin of her own.

****

Marianne was on site at Champvert, her other hospital client, reviewing more workpapers and having discussions with her team around testing approaches for items they would need to look at for the year end audit. Her phone vibrated with a message, but it wasn’t a phone call so Marianne dismissed it as something not urgent. While waiting for a lift at lunch, Marianne checked her phone, reading through the messages. A couple of them were from Héloïse, who had sent her a link to a funny review of a restaurant, and a simple question - 

_Want to check this place out on Friday? Last one before I head off to Bretagne for the holidays?_

“What are you smiling about?” Sara asked, interrupting Marianne’s train of thought. “Someone sent me a link to a restaurant review that was surprisingly amusing to read,” she responded. “I wish I could make a living writing restaurant reviews,” Sara wistfully said, “At least then I wouldn’t have to work in audit.” 

“You’ve said time and again that you ‘eat to live, not live to eat’, why would you want to be a food blogger then?” Marianne puzzled, though the response that came was not entirely surprising - “ _Because then I wouldn’t have to work in audit,_ Marianne. And just because I eat to live doesn’t mean I don’t appreciate good food.” 

Marianne knew Sara didn’t mean much by her comment about not wanting to work in audit - it was not an uncommon sentiment in their line of work. The only people who didn’t share that opinion were those who wanted to stay long enough to become Partners in the firm. “So, that CRC Manager from the other week…” Sara started, as they were waiting in line for their takeaway. Marianne didn’t say anything, wondering if Sara was going to finish her sentence, “The one you work with - tall, blonde, pretty.” “You’ve only met one CRC Manager with me the other week, Sara, there’s no one else you could be referring to.” Marianne cut through before Sara could continue, wondering if Sophie had put her up to this. 

“But you admit that she’s tall, blonde and pretty,”   
“I’m about the same height as her, Sara,”   
“Yeah, you’re also tall. And you noticed. Stop trying to deflect.”  
“Does it count as deflecting if I’m trying not to engage at all?”  
“Yes, because you technically have to deflect in order to deny. Do you know if she’s single? Asking for a friend. That friend is definitely not me.”

Marianne leveled her most impressive glare at Sara.

“What are you and Sophie trying to play at?”  
“I don’t know what _she_ wants out of this, but I want my career mentor to have a life outside of work.” 

Marianne rolled her eyes at that statement, unconvinced. 

“Bit rich coming from someone who said, “I’m okay, I have zero social life to worry about” when we first met.”  
“Okay _fine_. I’m fairly certain she was that hot, angry lady I saw at Nodd months ago. Legs like those? A little hard to forget. Face like that? Even harder to forget.”

Well, that sort of explained Sara’s minor freak out the first time she formally met Héloïse, then. And the awkward interaction.

“But - hear me out - I’d be happy to play wingman for you.”   
“ _What_ even -”   
“She _obviously_ finds you interesting, Marianne!” 

They were interrupted by the service staff to collect their food before Marianne could ask Sara to elaborate. But she didn’t have to ask anyway, because Sara continued.

“She was engaged in conversation with everyone at our table that night, but she kept sneaking small glances at you. She clearly had a bad experience at the place once before - that night was probably her first time back there since whatever it was that caused her to storm out - why come back unless she was comfortable with or interested in the person she was going with? Also, I said something really dumb on purpose to make you laugh, which worked, and the way she looked at you? That’s stuff _fairy tales_ are made of, Marianne.”

“Like that fairy tale you’re constructing in your head right now,” Marianne responded flatly. 

“I’m just saying - no harm asking her out. If you’re worried about independence or whatever, just wait until the stats are signed, then you’ll have… 8 months to figure it out before you’re back doing interim on the job.”

Marianne chose not to respond, which Sara took as her cue to get the last word in - “I think you have a shot. Worst case scenario? You’re mistaken, and the both of you get on with your professional lives pretending you didn’t hit on her. Best case scenario? She’s interested and you both can have a mature discussion about your mutual interest.”

Marianne hated the idea of that worst case scenario, if only because it would be terribly awkward. She would take everything else under advisement, even if she wouldn’t admit it to Sara. She tried to think back to the time at Nodd Sara brought up - when she said something dumb to make her laugh. She remembered the smile Héloïse had then, radiant, a light flush on the apple of her cheeks, a sparkle in her eyes, and in the dim lighting of the bar, the particular way the soft light enveloped her face. She also thought about how easy it was to chat about anything and everything with Héloïse, during their dinners together.

 _No_ , _stop it_ , she told herself. She was building a friendship with Héloïse here. Sophie and Sara were already getting too much entertainment from trying to set her up with Héloïse. She didn’t want to know how they would behave if they were proven right.

****

Marianne met up with Héloïse at St Pierre, the seafood restaurant Héloïse had sent her the review of. It was a small joint, tucked away in suburban Paris, and Héloïse waved at her as she approached the entrance of the restaurant. They exchanged the usual greetings, before Héloïse pulled the door open to let Marianne through first. “I have a 8pm booking for two, under Devereaux?” Héloïse said to the hostess, who clicked through the reservation system before picking up two menus, leading them to the table.

The restaurant had a relaxed vibe, the chatter and laughter of various tables rising around them. “What are you planning to get?” Marianne asked, as she looked through the seasonal menu, trying to find if there was anything that would catch her eye. “This Patagonian Toothfish dish sounds amazing, actually,” Héloïse said, Marianne running her eyes through the menu to find what Héloïse was talking about. 

_Poached Heard Island Patagonian Toothfish over Watermelon Radish, Blood Oranges and Pomegranate, seasoned with Pink Peppercorns and Fennel Salt, garnished with Fried Fennel, Fennel Fronds, and Pomegranate Seeds_ , the menu read. Marianne was inclined to agree with Héloïse’s initial assessment.

“I think I’m going to try the ocean trout,” Marianne nodded, mind made up. “Slow cooked ocean trout with St Pierre XO, garnished with dill and marjoram?” Héloïse read the description off the menu. “Yup,” Marianne confirmed, while drawing the attention of the hostess to put their orders in.

They briefly brought back the topic of the pains of their clients’ quirks in applying the new accounting standards, continuing right where they left off during their last catch up, before the conversation flowed easily to sustainable seafood, as the hostess brought their dishes to the table. They were both duly impressed by the presentation, before they began to dig in. 

“Oh, my goodness, you have to try this,” Héloïse said after a couple of mouthfuls, looking very pleased by her choice. “The way the textures and flavours combine - amazing. Toothfish can get quite heavy with the oil if not prepared right, but the radish and pomegranate really makes it refreshing,” 

Marianne smiled into her wine glass, it was always such a joy to see Héloïse react to good food. “You need to take some of my trout, too. Good choice on the restaurant, Héloïse!” “Take some from my plate whenever you want. Don’t want to get the flavours mixed,” Héloïse said, as she lifted her fork and knife, wordlessly asking Marianne for permission to take some of her trout. Marianne gladly pushed her plate slightly closer to Héloïse, watching as she leaned in slightly to cut a perfect wedge of meat, making sure she got some sauce and herbs as well. 

Marianne had to begrudgingly admit - Sara was right. Héloïse _was_ pretty. No. Héloïse was beautiful, and she looked positively radiant in this restaurant. Marianne still barely knew her, and they both were still maintaining some professional distance, but Marianne could not help but feel some sort of connection. Which immediately made her feel like a creeper. Héloïse was interested in becoming friends with her, why would her brain immediately default to any kind of attraction? What was her endgame here?

“Marianne? Are you alright?” Héloïse asked, when she noticed Marianne’s rather distant stare.   
“Hello?” she waved her hand in front of Marianne’s face, switching to English momentarily.

That caused Marianne to snap out of it, feeling blood rush to her face immediately. Hopefully, the relatively dim lighting of the restaurant was sufficient to hide just how hot her face was getting. Or that she could attribute it to the wine they had paired with their fish. She cleared her throat, nodding, and croaking out a “Yes, I’m fine,” in response.

Héloïse raised her eyebrows just a fraction, Marianne trying hard not to squirm in her gaze, before she turned her attention back to the trout she had been giving her opinion to Marianne about before the latter blanked out. Marianne made an effort to focus on the conversation at hand.

****

Marianne was back in the office, enjoying the last few days before the busy season kicked back up again. She took the opportunity to make sure she had sorted out the more administrative tasks.

Just then, Sophie’s head popped up over the divider in front of her.

“Dude, you and Héloïse,”   
“What about me and Héloïse?”   
“What’s going on?”   
“Nothing.”   
“Seriously?”   
“Seriously.”   
“You’re killing my buzz, man. I honestly thought -”   
“Can we not discuss this please?”  
“No, but really. The two of you go out for dinner together so often.”

“Sophie.” Marianne just said, looking up from her laptop to glare at her, “It’s only been _three_ dinners. We’re still on the audit. Héloïse and I are just friends. And can you please tell your housemate as well, she's obviously going to ask me the same thing after your failed attempt,” she stated firmly. 

“We just want you to be happy,” Sophie grinned. 

“You can make me happy by helping me find out what the cost rates actually are so I can estimate my engagement margins.” Marianne grumbled.

Sophie’s head descended back behind the divider, and she didn’t say anything else, much to Marianne’s relief.


	7. Year-End Audit (Fieldwork)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is dedicated to any accountant out there reading this fic.

Marianne could hear them before she walked into the audit room.

“They put the cash back into the GL account.”  
“They _what -_ ”  
“Said that’s how they usually do the reconciliation. They don’t put it against the debtors so they just take it out of the cash balance.”  
“They did that… for _how much_?”  
“It’s about €6m across the 5 largest hospitals so far.”

She walked in in time to see an incredulous look, a shrug, a massive eye roll and a shake of the head.

“Can you believe that they don’t know how to do a proper _bank reconciliation_?” Sophie grumbled to Marianne as the latter set her bags down to set herself up in the room. “What happened?” she asked. “Eugenie, would you like to recount the story for Marianne?” Sophie looked in the direction of the accountant.

“We got the bank confirmations back today. Noticed there was a very big difference between what they had in their TB compared to the confirms. Checked the bank recs - they didn’t offset it against the debtor accounts.”  
“So what you’re saying is -”  
“They went to _credit_ cash instead of debit it.”

Marianne looked blankly at Eugenie. Frankly, she did not know what to say. She was almost tempted to laugh - it was an absurd idea. “So their cash is understated and their receivables are overstated.” Eugenie finished. “Yeah, we’ll need them to adjust it. Thankfully it’s just a balance sheet reclass,” Sophie piped up. Marianne got where Sophie’s frustration came from, though. It was, after all, basic accounting. “Raise a management letter point for that as well, I don’t want to see something like this next year,” Marianne instructed Eugenie, who nodded in acknowledgment. 

Before she pulled up more workpapers to review, she figured she should ask Héloïse if her team had encountered such an issue in the prior years. The reply came back in Héloïse’s usual style - short and succinct.

_Did not have that in recent memory, but they did have an overhaul of their hospital finance teams not too long after the last audit._

That would make sense, except the reconciliations were supposed to be reviewed by someone at head office, and it was happening across a number of their hospitals, but Héloïse’s response was enough for Marianne to work on. She's seen worse bank reconciliations before. 50 page-long bank reconciliations. She shuddered at the thought.

The inherent joys of working on a client for the first time always meant that they always had to expect to dig up multiple issues across the accounts. It was always hit or miss with clients linked to the public service - they were either fully prepared to navigate the ins and outs of being audited, or they would be flying blind. As Marianne read through the list of issues they had already found, she wondered if the audit could be wrapped up in anything better than metaphorical duct tape, spit and a prayer. The conversation they would need to have with Management would not be pleasant, either, but they will have to get on with it.

In Marianne’s experience, being on site usually meant being there to make an executive decision on alternative testing strategies that was discussed among the team. It also meant being there to resolve problems the team encountered, and putting out fires as they pop up. 

“Marianne?”  
“Yes, Amélie?”  
“They put through a €3m accrual for payroll.”  
“And?”  
“They say it’s to account for the expected raises per the union agreements… except I asked them if they had a calculation or any supporting documents, and they said no, because there were ‘too many different union agreements for different types and levels of staff’”

Well, that’s not ideal.

“We need them to prepare some sort of calculation to support the accrual, especially if the raise is going to happen across different months.”  
“I’ll go speak with them about it.”

“Marianne?”  
“Yes, Eugenie?”  
“Their depreciation expense is off by about €1.5m.”  
“ _How_?”  
“They entered it into the system but forgot to check the box to start the depreciation calculations, so they went 6 months without depreciating an entire group of assets.”  
“Raise the adjustment.”

Mariranne walked out of the room to get herself a cup of coffee, also in hope that the short break would help stem the urge she had of throwing her laptop out the window. She looked at her watch - it was already 3pm. On one hand, she was glad her team was finding issues. On the other hand, what the hell were her clients doing with their books. She took a cup from the shelf and put it at the machine, pressing a button and staring at it while the machine whirred and the nectar of sleepless gods poured into the cup, her brain activating at the scent of it. 

She had barely settled in to her seat with her fresh cup of coffee when Kevin piped up with the now-familiar refrain of “Marianne?” She looked up at him so she could focus on what he was going to tell her. “Thought you would want to know - this system upgrade project of theirs - the capitalized cost calculation is an absolute shit fight and the memo didn’t have all the information we needed, so I’ve sent it back to the clients for them to fix it up before we look at it again.” Again, not ideal, but something she could leave with Kevin to monitor. “But this means I probably won’t have this ready for your review until next week.”

Marianne nodded, “That’s fine. Keep me in the loop on the meetings with the Project Manager as well - it would be worthwhile to get info from people outside of the Finance team.” “Roger that.”

By 6pm, Marianne no longer felt like she wanted to jump off a roof somewhere from the issues found across her jobs. Sophie was able to help Amélie convince their clients to prepare some sort of calculation that would support their payroll provision. Eugenie reported that Anthony was making his team immediately push through the adjustment for the depreciation expense, rather than leaving it as an unreconciled difference. Marianne was also able to convince Anthony that their bank reconciliations were not being prepared properly and that a reclassification was to be posted. She thanked the team, telling them to pack up and call it a week, and to enjoy their weekend. She told them she would be coming back on Monday and planned to spend more time on-site the next week to get through more work with them.

“Hey, I’m having dinner with Sara and some of your Champvert team at that Korean BBQ place her teammate recommended. You want to join us?” Sophie asked, as they were walking out the building. Marianne thought for a moment - she had had a long week, so she didn’t really feel like socializing, and she would never say this out loud to Sophie, but she had never been to that particular joint before, and she would much rather try it out with Héloïse, just to see what she thought of the food. “No thanks,” she replied. “Have fun!”

Just as she sat in her car, her phone buzzed to life with a message - _of course_ it was Héloïse. 

_Managed to score 2 tickets to the Female Painters of the  
18th Century exhibit at the Louvre. Would you like to come with? _

_When are you thinking of going?_

_How about the Thursday of our clearance meeting with management?  
They’ve got extended hours that evening, _ _specifically for the exhibit._   
_Unless you have other deadlines that week?_

_No, I can keep that evening free. Sounds like fun!_

_I’ll see you then. (:_

A traditional smiley face. Not an emoji. Interesting. In any case, Marianne had something to look forward to at the end of this audit.

****

Two weeks before the close meeting with the CRC, Sophie asked Marianne if the file review was going to be on the same day.

“No, we will schedule the CRC file review on the same day of, or slightly after the close meeting with them. We also have the clearance meeting with the Healthcare District management after the close meeting. The file review depends on when Christophe manages to go through his review of our file,” Marianne replied, looking at her calendar, which was fast filling up. 

“Do you need me for the file review, or are you going to be there for it again?” Sophie continued, smirk on her face. No one else in the room seemed to have noticed, to Marianne’s relief. “I’ll need you to be there for the file review. I will make myself available for the close meeting if it’s on the same day, and can probably spare a couple of hours, but it depends on whether or not I have meetings for the Champvert audit,” Marianne said, which got an “Okay.” from Sophie in response.

Maybe it wasn't such a good idea to leave Sophie in a room alone with Héloïse, but Marianne didn’t really have much of a choice, considering her schedule. Alas, she has to trust that Sophie is professional enough to go through a file review without bringing up anything inappropriate about either of their personal lives. Marianne did not have the time to think about it - she had bigger things to worry about, like how to complete the audit on time without feeling like everything was cobbled together hastily.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if all the accounting stuff flew over your head, I promise the next few chapters is very light on the accounting. After all... we are in the endgame now.


	8. Year-End Audit (Wrap up and Signing)

By some miracle, Marianne’s team managed to pull through, pushing through whatever adjustments they required from the clients, and going through the required review process for Marianne to gain sufficient comfort that, at the very least, they had covered all their bases for the audit, just prior to the clearance with Management and the CRC team. 

The clearance meeting with the Seine-et-Marne Healthcare District management team went smoothly, with both client and CRC teams satisfied with how the year’s audit had progressed. All that was left was the issuing of the audit opinion, to be withheld until the annual report was actually ready to be signed by the Healthcare District’s CFO and Chairman. For Marianne's team, that meant tightening up documentation and getting the audit file ready for archive.

“Thank you for your team’s hard work to get the items across the line in time,” Anthony said as he shook hands with Christophe, who nodded. “We will look into the improvement points and hopefully implement some changes before next year’s audit.” “We really appreciate it,” Marianne added as she shook Anthony’s hand as well.

Delphine had taken her leave and Héloïse had disappeared somewhere, while Christophe had a quick conversation with Marianne after everyone else had dispersed. “Delphine also conveyed her thanks to you and the team,” he said.

“Another job well done, Marianne. Good work all around. Let’s organize a post-audit dinner for the team to celebrate.”   
“Sure, they’d be all over it in a heartbeat.”   
“Alright, I need to head off for another appointment. I’ll see you in the office sometime.” 

Marianne waved as Christophe walked away. 

Their meeting was the last thing for the day, and with how smoothly everything had gone, Marianne felt a weight lift off her chest. There was a residual sense of “If the file isn’t archived yet there’s still an opportunity for something to get fucked”, but getting past the audit clearance was always a good thing. She now had something completely different on her mind - her trip to the Louvre with Héloïse.

Héloïse had mentioned that she was carpooling with Delphine to the Healthcare District office and would hitch a ride with Marianne to the Metro station closest to Marianne’s place, after which they would take the Metro to the Louvre together. Except Héloïse was nowhere to be found and Marianne wasn’t sure where to look for her. She stood at the lobby for a moment and was about to text Héloïse to tell her where she was when the blonde emerged from a corner. “Hey, sorry. I saw you were having a conversation with Christophe so I figured I’d make myself scarce to avoid any awkward questions from Christophe or Delphine,” Héloïse explained. “We good to go?” “Yup, let’s. Hopefully enough commuters would have cleared out of the Park and Ride for us to not have any issues,”

The car ride was fairly silent between the both of them, the songs on Marianne’s driving playlist providing some source of discussion when Héloïse would ask about an artiste or a song, or laugh at a particular choice. “I always pictured you as a business podcast as you drive kind of person, not… _this_ ,” Héloïse chuckled. “What’s wrong with Céline Dion?!” Marianne asked, mildly offended, which got another chuckle from Héloïse. “Nothing. The songs have been quite the eclectic mix so far, that’s all,” she said. “Just because I work at ADR doesn’t mean I’m a corporate drone, Héloïse. Some of us have _layers._ ” Marianne stated matter-of-factly. “I have noticed,” was the simple response. Marianne was suddenly very preoccupied by the fact that her car heater felt warmer than usual, but didn’t move to adjust it. "I personally enjoy listening to podcasts about unsolved mysteries," Héloïse added for some levity. Marianne laughed, of course Héloïse would listen to those. 

****

“I don’t have many colleagues who are into classical art,” Héloïse said, as they walked through the entrance of the Louvre and made their way to where the exhibit was. “Same. ADR gets free or discounted tickets sometimes, from our sponsorships, but I almost always end up going alone,” Marianne said with a wry smile. Héloïse looked surprised, “Not even with Sophie or Sara or any of your other colleagues?” she asked. Marianne shook her head. 

“So what got you interested in the arts?” Héloïse continued her line of questioning. Marianne thought for a moment if she wanted to tell the truth or not. “I used to want to be a painter,” she said. “And yet you ended up an auditor,” Marianne noted that Héloïse said that as a statement, not a question. Marianne shrugged. "I always laugh when people bring up things like 'The Art of Audit'," Marianne chuckled.

“I wanted to read and debate philosophy, but having a stable job is nice too,” Héloïse offered. Marianne looked at her, surprised. “I found something to be interested in, in audit,” Héloïse shrugged. 

Héloïse passed their tickets to the attendant to scan before they walked through, starting the circuit.

*****

“Are you okay? You’ve been kind of quiet tonight,” Héloïse asked gently. Marianne felt a blush rise to her cheeks - probably the spotlight she was currently standing under. “I’m fine. I’ve just had… a long day at work. This is nice. I’m unwinding,” she responded somewhat sheepishly, feeling slightly caught out. Héloïse smiled softly at her, and Marianne found that she couldn’t breath. She still wasn't quite used to seeing Héloïse smile this much. Her eyes - it had that exact same softness in it that reminded her of the time they were both overlooking the Parisian skyline during Héloïse’s first review of their audit files, and after the data analytics workshop. And every time Héloïse found something to be impressed about with the food they were trying.

Oh.

Marianne swallowed thickly. Surely she was just imagining things. They were surrounded by beautiful art, of course Héloïse would have that look in her eyes. That look was obviously one of appreciation of the sights surrounding her and the effort that went into making the art. In this case, 18th century oil paintings.

They took their time to consider each painting, Marianne stepping as close as she could, inspecting the brushstrokes and thickness of the oils in a bid to stop herself from looking at Héloïse more times than were appropriate. She would point out details she found interesting, like how the cracks in the paint gave the art a different dimension, or how the texture of the paint elevated the realism of the piece. She would step back to allow Héloïse space to lean in to look at the detail that Marianne spoke about. 

She was about to walk straight past another corridor when she felt Héloïse’s hand on the small of her back, redirecting her to turn into said corridor, which turned out to be a room with a large feature painting. It was easy to ignore the electricity she felt run through her entire body from the contact when she saw the painting. It was one of Orpheus and Eurydice - and they both stood there in awe of its scale, Marianne realizing Héloïse’s hand was still on her back. This painting was different, though. “Does it look like they’re…” “Saying goodbye? Yeah.”

Marianne felt Héloïse’s hand drop, as the latter moved closer to inspect the painting. “It’s kind of like…” Héloïse started, angling her body to mirror Orpheus’. “Like this was painted to feature Eurydice more. And like she was at peace with what was happening,” Marianne breathed out. 

“The myth is always told from Orpheus’ point of view, isn’t it?” Héloïse remarked offhandedly. “Yes. It starts with him pleading to the gods, and ends with him losing Eurydice all over again.” Marianne nodded.

“Do you think the painter was trying to say… maybe it was Eurydice who asked Orpheus to turn around? That this was the one choice she _could_ make for herself that Orpheus would not be able to do on her behalf? For her to go back to the River Styx?”

Marianne had been staring at Héloïse more than the painting at this point. The more time they spent together the more Marianne wanted to learn about Héloïse, wanted to plunge into the depths of her intellect. How did such a woman become _an auditor_?

“My ex really liked Greek tragedies,” Héloïse said offhandedly while still looking at the painting. “She hated it when I’d interpret the story differently from her, though,” she shrugged. Marianne's brain stopped all functions right then, whirring back to life to process what was just said. The answer to a question Marianne didn't realize had been at the back of her mind for a while, now. That Héloïse was into women. Marianne had never asked another woman out before - didn’t know how these things worked. She hadn’t dated anyone in _years_ , and the last time she mentioned to Sophie about a casual dinner between her and a fine arts student she met while she was an undergrad, Sophie had buried her face in her hands, shook her head and went, “Marianne you idiot, that was a date.”

Marianne caught herself rubbing her temple subconsciously, and immediately brought her hand back down, crossing her arms to keep her hands occupied. 

“I personally enjoyed Greek mythology as well, but I could never keep up with her. What about you?” Héloïse asked, turning to Marianne, who took more time than usual to process the question. “I read them when I was a kid. I’d love to read them again now that I’m an adult, to see what the new perspective would bring. But I just… never had the time to,” Marianne admitted.

They continued through the rest of the exhibit, Marianne feeling like she was doing a decent job at keeping their conversation going without saying anything terribly awkward or odd.

****

“I… think I went on a date… with another woman, once… about 10 years ago.” Marianne sputtered out when they were at a wine bar after the exhibit.  
“You… think?” Héloïse asked, eyebrow raised in curiosity.   
“We went for dinner, then we had a really long walk in the park. She asked me if I wanted to come over to her place for coffee after… I told her no, because I had an assignment due the following week that I hadn’t even started on yet. She was… very distant after that, now that I think about it,” Marianne frowned.

“This kind of feels like a date, doesn’t it?” Héloïse asked, completely throwing Marianne off balance.

“Uh… I… um... “ Marianne froze. She had been thinking about this for a while now, but she did not expect that Héloïse was going to make the first move. Nor was she prepared for when anything actually happened.

“It can be whatever you want it to be,” Héloïse said as she smiled softly at Marianne again. “I don’t want to put you on the spot, if it _was_ a date I’d ask you out properly. When you want… if you want.”

“Um, no,” Marianne sputtered out, voice uncharacteristically high pitched. _Wait, what?!  
_ “Oh, okay,” a flash of surprise had actually passed Héloïse’s face.  
“I don’t mean _no_ no, I just mean… _was this supposed to be a date?_ ”  
“No, it wasn’t, I was just kidding,” Héloïse said, sheepishly smiling. Marianne could feel her heart beating out of her chest, threatening to fly out of her throat and possibly smack Héloïse right in the face. It almost felt like she could start sweating bullets at any moment.

Their conversation carried on, Héloïse acting like it was all cool, like she didn’t just drop a literal bomb on Marianne’s life, while Marianne tried to find the words to convey how much she _does_ want to date Héloïse, she just _could not_ , for the life of her, form a coherent sentence. 

Except the conversation tapered off very shortly after, and Héloïse looked at her watch, swearing. “Shit, it’s late. And I meant to review some work before my 9am meeting tomorrow,” 

Marianne was left stunned as Héloïse put her coat back on and gathered her bags, paying for their drinks. “Sorry, I have to run now - I’ll see you around.” she smiled apologetically and swept away. Marianne dropped her head into her arms - what a _colossal_ _idiot_. The one time she had the chance to get the girl… she completely blew it.

****

Marianne had not seen her since. They drifted apart - the job was over, there were no more meetings to be had, and the eventual signing of the financial statements did not require any of the auditors' presence to happen. It was still the busy season for Marianne, so she honestly did not have the time to think about where she had left things with Héloïse, nor did she want to. Neither of them had organized another dinner session together since the visit to the Art Gallery, Marianne citing her long work hours and need for solitude to recuperate as a reason. Unbeknownst to Marianne, Sophie had bumped into Héloïse at Nodd after work one day and asked her how the trip to the art gallery went, to which Héloïse just responded with a cool, “Hmmm, it went okay. It was cool to see the art.” 

That was certainly not the answer Sophie was expecting, but she left it as is. 

****

It was late at night, Marianne and her team were still in the office, rushing to put in the final changes to their file before the official signing date. Sophie, who was booked on another engagement at that time, also happened to be there. Before she made her way out for the night, she dropped onto the chair beside Marianne’s, startling the Manager with the sudden movement. She wheeled closer to Marianne, voice low so it would be hard to overhear despite how quiet the office always was at this hour.

“Dude. Are you okay? You’ve been acting weird since the trip to the Art Gallery,” she asked. “What? No, I’m fine. I’ve just been busy, that’s all.” Marianne replied, eyebrows knitting together to form a frown. Sophie looked skeptical, but Marianne was thankful that she didn’t press further. “You know, she still turns up at the bar every week,” she said. She didn’t have to tell Marianne exactly who she was referring to - Marianne knew. “Good for her,” was all Marianne said in response, pointedly focusing on her laptop in front of her, keen to avoid the topic.

“Okay. It’s late, you’re grumpy, and I know you’re signing tomorrow so I’ll leave you to it,” Sophie sighed in resignation as she gathered her bags and got out of the chair, pushing it back to its proper place at the desk. “Goodnight,” she said, walking out before Marianne could respond or apologise.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm... uh... sorry?


	9. Archive

They were all sat together at a desk at the back of the department floor, huddled away as a team, everyone clicking through their files, making sure everything was in place before they archived the file.

“Have we got the management representation letter?” Kevin asked.  
“Yes - I’ve signed it off and so has Marianne,” Amélie responded.  
“Have we attached the marked up version of the annual report?” Marianne asked.  
“Uploading it now,” Eugenie replied.  
“Marianne, could you please close that review point you raised on the legal update file?” Sophie piped up.  
“Done.”  
“Has Christophe signed off on everything he needs to?”

Sophie scrolled through the file, checking, “Affirmative.”

“The annual report has been uploaded, you can sign off on it now, Marianne.”  
“Thanks.”  
“I’m removing all tracked changes now.”  
“And I’m removing external links.”  
“All our deliverables to the Cour has been signed off, Marianne.”  
“Thanks.”

They all fell silent, clicking away.

“I’m done with the tracked changes.”  
“I’m done with the external links.”

Marianne looked at her team, and they were all looking at her now. “Sophie, will you please sign off on the Archive task?” Marianne requested, and Sophie’s response was almost immediate, grin forming on her face.

“What a sight.”

They looked at their screens for a moment, revelling in the green ticks and filled status bars. “I never get tired of this sight,” Kevin commented. Marianne took a screenshot of the page, which she was going to send to the team for posterity. “We started from the bottom, now we’re here.” 

And then she clicked on the ‘Archive’ button. High fives were exchanged among the team. They still had to wait for the automated acknowledgement that the archive was successful, but that was it. It was the last file Marianne had to archive for her December year end clients, and they had done it on time and under budget - quite the feat for a first year client.

She looked at her watch - 4.00pm. It was Friday, and she knew everyone else was done with their busy season as well - “Let’s submit our timesheets and call it a day. First round’s on me,” she said to her team, and the grins that formed around the desk told Marianne everything she needed to know.

Marianne indicated to them to go ahead without her first, as she wanted to leave some things in her locker before heading to Nodd. When she stepped out of the office building, she felt lighter for the first time in months, the relief that another busy season was completed washing over her. She crossed the familiar road towards the building where Nodd was, and as the lift doors were closing, someone put a hand at the door so they could squeeze in.

The person stopped in their tracks before they could enter the lift.

It was Héloïse. Because of course it was.

They both stared at each other for a while, stunned, Héloïse clearly not wanting to step in if Marianne was planning on avoiding her. Marianne pulled herself out of her stunned state, telling Héloïse to get in, which she did. “Hey,” Héloïse greeted, smiling slightly at Marianne. Right, so they were going to keep pretending that everything was alright. Sure, Marianne could handle it… she thinks. “Hey,” Marianne returned.

“How’s it going?”  
“I just finished another busy season. We actually just archived the Seine-et-Marne audit file. You’ll be getting a copy for your records soon.”  
“Oh, that’s good to hear.”

Silence again. This lift ride was a lot longer than Marianne remembered.

“I’m having drinks with the team - first round’s on me as celebration. Do you want to join us?” Marianne asked out of courtesy, knowing that if Sophie or Sara saw them walk out of the lift together and go their separate ways, one of them would come up with some scheme or other that would most definitely get under Marianne’s skin. If Héloïse said no, so be it.

Except she did not say no.

“Um… you sure you don’t mind? I actually came here alone, otherwise.”

The lift finally got to the level in question, music from the bar pumping in the air as they stepped out. “If I minded, I wouldn’t have asked,” Marianne shrugged, smiling slightly. Héloïse nodded, “Okay then.”

They were back in familiar territory - Marianne craning her neck to try to find her team, though this time Héloïse was also on the lookout, as she was now familiar with their faces. “I think I see them,” Héloïse said, pointing to her right. Marianne turned, and there they were. They made their way across, and while they waited for Eugenie to return from wherever she had temporarily disappeared to, Marianne took everyone’s drinks orders before turning to make some conversation with Héloïse, to try to find some sort of normalcy in their interaction again.

Eventually, Marianne made her way to the bar to place their drinks order, Sophie in tow to help carry the drinks back.

“What the hell was that?” Sophie hissed at Marianne when they were both at the bar counter and out of earshot from everyone else, waiting for the bartender to take their orders. Marianne was not expecting Sophie to have such a strong reaction. “What the hell was what?” she asked, confused. “That was the most awkward conversation I’d ever listened to about _crispy baguettes_ and _Epoisses_ ,” Sophie replied, clearly exasperated.

Marianne tried to gather her thoughts, clearly avoiding eye contact with Sophie when she blurted out, “You were right.” She said it so fast, Sophie almost had to ask Marianne to repeat herself. “About Héloïse,” Marianne continued, picking at the serviette she found. Sophie’s jaw dropped gasping, “Did she make a move? _No_. Did the two of you _hook up_ after the trip to the Art Museum? Is that why you’re both being so awkward right now, because someone hasn’t followed up since? Did she ghost you? Do Sara and I need to run an intervention for you, because Sara _will_ throw hands.”

“Sophie, no, why do you always default to assuming we hooked up?! And no, Héloïse did not ghost me.” Marianne swatted Sophie on the shoulder in reprimand. “Are you telling me _absolutely nothing has happened between the two of you_?!” she pressed, in complete disbelief. “She asked me out on a date, okay?! Once. I said no.”

Sophie could only gape at her as the bartender came by, effectively blocking her line of interrogation temporarily.

“4 glasses of the house Bordeaux and a gin and tonic, please,” Marianne ordered, before looking at Sophie to put in her order as well. “I’ll have a Long Island, please,” Sophie called out, the bartender nodding, turning around to prepare the drinks while Marianne whipped her head towards Sophie, surprised at her drink order.

“I need it to wash away my disappointment,” Sophie simply said, before continuing, “I honestly thought you had a thing for her.”  
“I do have a thing for her!” Marianne shot back defensively.   
“Well, you have a funny way of responding to a proposition from your crush, then,” was Sophie’s only response, taking one of the tray of drinks from the bartender back to the table, leaving Marianne behind to settle the bill.

_Putain._

**** 

They left the bar together, the rest of the team planning to hit the clubs but Marianne citing her exhaustion as an excuse to not join them, which they accepted. Héloïse followed suit as she wasn’t as familiar with the rest of them, nor was clubbing her scene.

They were walking slowly, towards the Metro station, Héloïse very resolutely acting like nothing had changed since they last met, steering the conversation to how spring had been great so far this year. Marianne was silent the whole way, agonizing over how she always wanted to say yes to Héloïse about going on a date together but was just… surprised and stunned and didn’t know how to respond appropriately and obviously had a word vomit contrary to her own desires.

Sophie’s words about her being a poor communicator floated in her head, before she finally mustered enough courage within her to do something about the situation. She stopped abruptly, taking Héloïse’s hand, forcing the other woman to stop and turn, looking surprised. “Shall we go for dinner together, please?” Marianne asked.

Héloïse paused, trying to figure out Marianne’s angle. Was this her guilty conscience speaking, or did she really want to have dinner? Marianne took a deep breath. “For a date.” she said, resolutely. Héloïse looked at Marianne, contemplative. Marianne gulped - maybe she had truly missed her shot. Maybe Héloïse really was kidding that night. Marianne hadn't thought this through. "Unless you had something to eat just now before you went to Nodd, or if you have other plans…" she added. 

Héloïse left it hanging for a while, more heat rising towards Marianne’s face the longer Héloïse did not say anything. Did she misread the signals? Were there any signals tonight to begin with? Just as Marianne was about to back up, Héloïse grinned and simply asked, “So, where are we going?”

This made Marianne laugh incredulously, relief washing all over her. Then she realized - “I didn’t think about a place. All I could think about was that I wanted to ask you out for dinner.” she sheepishly said. 

Héloïse’s smile softened at that, rolling her eyes slightly. Just then, she took her phone out, swiping through, before handing it over to Marianne, “Well, I’ve got a list of places I don’t think we’ve tried before.”

It struck Marianne that Héloïse was probably doing this to give her a choice and an out, if she still wanted to back out of this. It was all very overwhelming but Marianne managed to pull through anyway, opting for the Indian restaurant on Héloïse’s list.

Marianne is sure now that this is what she wants.

****

The Metro ride was quiet, though Héloïse was still smiling, and Marianne could not help but blush whenever they made eye contact. It was not like this is entirely new for her - she had hung out with Héloïse multiple times before, but this… was different. They were on a _date_. One that _she_ asked Héloïse for, and that Héloïse agreed to.

There was still some sort of weight in her chest, though. Something unsettling that kept bugging her. “I’m sorry,” she sputtered out, Héloïse looking surprised at the suddenness of Marianne bringing this up. “About the other night. I… it was a lot. I just… I’m not very good at the whole relationship thing, and Sophie and Sara kept egging me on about me hanging out with you, and I had… built up this whole thing in my head, while focusing on the job and trying to get it out of the way so I didn’t have to start thinking about _independence issues_ … I was trying to work myself up to be able to say _yes_ , I wouldn’t mind if that was a date, but you got… whatever _that_ was from me.” Marianne went on a rant, before trailing off. _Way to scare off the woman you literally just asked out on a date_ , she thought.

Héloïse gave Marianne a small smile. “I figured you had a lot going on,” she said simply. They were about to reach their stop, so they put their conversation on hold until they stepped out. “If you knew, why didn’t you call or text?” Marianne asked tentatively. Héloïse shrugged, “Part and parcel of figuring you had a lot going on. Would a phone call or a text from me have helped, at that point in time, with how busy you probably were?” 

Héloïse had a point. 

“No, probably not. What would you have been able to say, anyway? After how I responded to you that night? _I_ would have tried to forget everything if I were you.” Marianne conceded. “I'm sorry I didn't text you earlier either. You had… put it all out there and… yeah, that was shit from me.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I wasn’t exactly _waiting_ for you to come back. I figured you would know what you wanted to do once you sorted everything out, but if that didn’t happen, there would be no hard feelings.” Héloïse shrugged.

“How? Why?” Marianne frowned.   
“Because I’ve been there before. Stuck between not knowing what I wanted, and a person waiting. And I rushed into it, and it _sucked_. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”  
“Oh.”   
“Also, there wouldn’t have been any independence issues. It’s not like you actually _report_ to _me_. Delphine’s the one who signs off on it. We’re practically the same level.”

Marianne chuckled, thankful for Héloïse injecting a bit of humour there. She felt lighter than she had in days. “Yeah, I know. Sophie and Sara kept reminding me about that, too.” “Are they-” “Together? God, no. They’re thick as thieves, though.”

They had reached the restaurant. Héloïse looked at Marianne, that soft smile that made Marianne’s heart skip many beats resting on her face. “You ready for this?” she asked. Marianne nodded, returning Héloïse’s smile. Clean slate. “After you,” she said, pulling the door open for Héloïse, who grinned at her as she swept past, approaching the host to get themselves a table.

****

After they were done with dinner, they walked together in silence along the Seine, looking at the soft lights reflected on the water. Somewhere along their walk, Héloïse had offered her arm, which Marianne took. They both stuffed their hands into their pockets, enjoying the physical closeness in the cool night. Marianne found herself stealing glances at Héloïse, noticing that the latter had a small smile on her face, expression matching the softness of the lights. Marianne’s eyes were drawn to Héloïse’s neck, the point where her perfectly shaped jaw met her ear, which was revealed every time Héloïse’s soft curls bounced from the soft breeze and their walking.

She turned to look ahead, smiling to herself and tightening her grip on Héloïse’s to bring herself closer. It was almost as if Héloïse was her anchor, keeping her on the ground while they walked together. When she turned, Héloïse was looking at her, grinning. She was barely listening to Héloïse recount wild tales of spontaneous trips to Germany for fun, though she was definitely listening to the sound of Héloïse’s voice. 

Their walk eventually brought them back to Marianne’s apartment, where they stood in front of the building for a bit, as they both looked up at the steps leading to the main door. Marianne took a deep breath, and turned to face Héloïse - she had already put herself out there by asking Héloïse out to dinner, and everything about this night had been perfect - why would she think the next part wouldn’t go over well?

“It was good to have dinner with you again,” Héloïse said tenderly. Marianne couldn’t quite read the look Héloïse had on her face. “I missed having dinners with you. I’m sorry for being an idiot,” Marianne said again, which drew a small laugh from Héloïse. “I think you’ve apologized enough tonight,” Héloïse replied. 

They stood there for a while, looking at each other. Marianne didn’t want the night to end. Even after all the time she spent with Héloïse, there was more she wanted to know about the other woman - her thoughts, her dreams, her opinions, _everything_. Her eyes drifted to Héloïse’s lips - which she dragged away from before her brain stopped functioning.

“Guess I’ll just… head to the Metro, then,” Héloïse put out there, snapping Marianne out of her reverie. “Wait - no. Do you want to… come up for some coffee or tea or… something?” she asked, while wondering if Héloïse could hear her heart beating out of her chest. Héloïse’s eyebrow raised a fraction of a centimetre before she nodded, eyes sparkling, “I don’t have any assignments due anytime soon.” 

Marianne felt her face burn, before she pulled her eyes away to look at her shuffling feet, nervously laughing in response. Héloïse put a reassuring hand on her arm, “I’m just pulling your leg. I’d like to come up.” Marianne cleared her throat, gave Héloïse a shy smile, then led her up the stairs and down the corridor to her apartment.

Marianne’s hands fumbled with her keys, taking one too many times to slot the key into the doorknob to unlock it, pushing her door open. Her body buzzed with anticipation while she tried to think of what to say or do to keep Héloïse entertained. She wondered if Héloïse could feel it too.

“Come on in,” she said softly, keeping her voice light and even as she flipped switches to illuminate the place. Héloïse hovered around the entryway, waiting for Marianne to lead her in. Marianne was glad that nothing had happened between the last time she cleaned up her apartment and now that would have made it messy. Or maybe that said something about her social life. But there were more pressing issues at hand, like one Héloïse Devereaux standing beside her. 

She placed her bag down on her couch, taking her jacket off while gesturing for Héloïse to pass hers over as well, hanging them on the hooks by the door. “Please, make yourself comfortable,” she said, while shuffling around her apartment, trying to distract herself from Héloïse’s ever growing presence within her personal sanctuary. “Coffee? Tea?” she asked, opening the cupboards to have a look at what she had. 

Marianne turned around and found that Héloïse had made herself comfortable at the other side of the kitchen counter, with an eyebrow raised, looking up at the jar of coffee grounds and various tea canisters Marianne had in the cupboard. “Whichever is easiest for you,” she replied, causing Marianne to spin back to consider her options. “Do you like… green tea?” she asked, after some consideration. “I think we’ve established that I’m open to trying anything,” was the response. 

Marianne had several varieties of green tea, but she also had an opened packet that should be used up sooner rather than later. Taking the canister down and plucking out the appropriate teapot and teacups, she set about putting the kettle to boil, while measuring the amount of leaves she needed. She could feel Héloïse’s curious eyes following her as she moved around her kitchen. “ _Aoi_ ,” Marianne began, “A type of _sencha_ from Uji, Kyoto.” Héloïse nodded, taking in the information. “Did you get this from your trip to Japan?” she asked. “Yup,” she said, “We were in Uji when we walked past a tea shop and decided to give it a shot.”

She moved to join Héloïse at the other side of the kitchen counter, sitting beside her on the other barstool. The water was ready, and she poured the boiled water out to another cup, deliberately lowering the temperature of the water before she poured it into the teapot to let the tea leaves steep. “This all looks very complicated,” Héloïse remarked, as Marianne poured the water into the teapot and started looking at her watch. Marianne grinned back at her, “The temperature and duration of steeping has a direct impact on the flavour.” Counting down the remaining seconds, she poured a cup of tea out for Héloïse and herself. 

“Salut,” Héloïse said, as they clinked the tiny teacups together. She took a sip, carefully considering the taste, and Marianne smiled when Héloïse’s eyes widened as the flavours took shape in her mind. “Is it just me, or does it have… a _savoury_ note at the end?” she asked, surprised, as she looked into the teacup, as if she would find some floating evidence of an element that would lend itself to the savoury flavour. “Interesting, isn’t it? And no, it’s a _sencha_ , not a _genmaicha_ , so you won’t find roasted rice grains in there.” “But it’s still very refreshing.” “For sure.”

"Funny story," Marianne began as she poured more water into the teapot for another infusion, keeping her eye on her watch again. "The lady at the tea shop had indicated to my friend how long we were meant to wait for the tea to steep for, except my friend, who understood some basic Japanese, had misinterpreted and thought the lady meant we were supposed to rotate the teapot… which we did. And obviously was a source of puzzlement for the lady."

Héloïse laughed, imagining the confusion. “How often do you get to do this?” Héloïse’s next question cutting through her focus, “It’s just… in our line of work, especially where _you_ are placed, I somehow doubt you’d have time to do this much.” “Not often enough,” Marianne said as she poured out the second infusion, which was cloudier than the first, but had a richer colour “but when I do have the time for it, I find that it helps me relax and unwind after a long day or week.”

Héloïse moved her chair closer to Marianne’s, leaning forward to peer into the teacup, taking her time to smell it. “I feel like I’m doing a wine tasting,” she chuckled as she picked the glass up, left eyebrow twitching up as she looked at Marianne, smirking into her glass as she took in the second cup of tea. Marianne felt the heat rise up to her cheeks, painfully aware that they were technically still on their date, so she couldn’t really blame the colour in her cheeks on the steam rising from the boiled water next to her. She was staring, and Héloïse hadn’t taken her eyes off her yet. She cleared her throat, breaking eye contact as she brought her own teacup to her lips, trying to focus on the flavour of the tea, and not… Héloïse eyes, which had moved down to Marianne's own lips. “You’re such a nerd, I appreciate that,” Héloïse teased softly. “Says the person who brought me to an art exhibit with opinions on Greek tragedies and tries different cuisines on a regular basis,” Marianne managed to shoot back, which Héloïse shrugged off, still smirking. “You agreed to come along with me, so that’s not much of a comeback at all.”

“If this was a proper Japanese tea session, the tea would be served with some sweets… like a little mochi or something,” Marianne redirected the topic as she set her teacup down. She couldn’t stop the sharp inhale that came when she felt Héloïse’s feet hook around behind the legs of her barstool, quick tug pulling her closer.

They were very close now, closer than Marianne expected to be. She could see the two dark spots at the edge of Héloïse's iris, and where colours mixed into the most captivating shade Marianne ever had the privilege to stare at. 

“I can think of something that would work in lieu of some Japanese sweets…” Héloïse’s voice was impossibly soft and low, and Marianne’s brain started working overdrive, which was not ideal. Héloïse was leaning forward now, “But it’ll only work if you agree to it.”

Marianne couldn’t trust her mouth to form the words, so all she could do was nod. Héloïse’s eyes narrowed a little, which gave Marianne’s brain enough time to pause and reorganize itself, processing the implications of Héloïse’s words. “I want you to kiss me… please.” she heard her voice before she realized she had actually said them. “Happy to oblige,” Marianne felt Héloïse’s words against her lips as the latter closed in. Héloïse’s lips were impossibly soft, and Marianne could still taste a hint of the tea on Héloïse’s tongue, a subtle sweetness that only served to make Marianne crave more of Héloïse. 

Héloïse’s hands traced a path up to her clavicle, her thumb brushing Marianne’s pulse point before finding an anchor point at the nape of Marianne’s neck, drawing her even closer. Marianne felt like she was falling upwards, subconsciously reaching out to pull Héloïse to her by the collar of her sweater. Héloïse moved without breaking the kiss, now standing between Marianne’s legs, the corresponding sound that came out of Marianne’s throat as her back was pushed against the kitchen counter could only be described by herself as ‘unholy’. She suddenly had a newfound appreciation for her solitary living arrangement.

Marianne was unable to stop a whimper of disappointment from escaping her mouth when Héloïse pulled back, their lips finally breaking apart, hands still clutching at Héloïse’s sweater. Héloïse’s face broke out to a full grin, probably from the sound, which alleviated much of Marianne’s embarrassment about it, instead filling her with a joy which was spreading within her like warmth, from her core to the tips of her fingers. 

Marianne watched as Héloïse’s eyes flit towards the kitchen counter for a second before returning to hers, a devious glint now present in them, suggestive eyebrow waggle accompanying the whole look. Marianne turned to look at the suspect counter, the tea equipment and the remaining space. “No,” she laughed, softly pushing Héloïse away from her, immediately regretting the loss of physical contact, while ignoring the now very present throb between her legs that she had been paying absolutely no attention to since they started kissing - no - making out. “I sometimes _do work_ on the counter. And I do all my meal prep on there.” “It was worth a shot,” Héloïse shrugged, pursing her lips for a moment, “Well, then, thanks for the tea.”

Wait, what?

“Hey, wait,” Marianne caught Héloïse by the elbow as she was about to turn to leave, Héloïse offering no resistance as Marianne softly pulled her back towards her. “I said no _regarding the kitchen counter_.” she paused, “Unless… you want to go home?” she frowned slightly. This was not how she expected the night to end. “Do you want me to stay?” Héloïse asked, stepping back into Marianne’s personal bubble, resting her hands on her hips. “Definitely. I didn’t ask you up _just_ for tea,” Marianne said shyly, biting her lower lip.

“Someone’s being _really_ brave today.”  
“Is it working on you?”  
“Extra. Also, there was no way I was going to be able to fall asleep easily tonight after all that tea.”

“You only had 2 tiny cups,” Marianne hopped off the stool, taking Héloïse by the hand to lead her to the bedroom. “I have very low caffeine tolerance,” Marianne did not miss the drop in Héloïse’s tone when she said that. 

In the middle of her bedroom, Marianne felt another surge of courage, confidence building with every moment Héloïse agreed to something. She closed the distance between themselves again, taking Héloïse’s hands and guiding them up her torso to unbutton her shirt, which she shrugged off after Héloïse was done, before breaking off the kiss to help Héloïse pull her sweater off.

Héloïse opened her mouth, as if to say something.

“Less talking, more kissing,” Marianne murmured, interrupting Héloïse's train of thought, the both of them meeting in the middle capturing each other’s lips. "I've seen how fast you type. I'm sure you're very good at _other things_ with your fingers,"

The laugh that escaped Héloïse’s lips was music to Marianne's ears, and she craved for more. She wanted to be unravelled and undone by Héloïse, everything about her was alluring and she wasn't sure if she would ever get enough of her. 

****

“Who would have expected you to be so demanding,” Héloïse turned to face Marianne, cheeky grin lighting up her face, chest rising and falling to regulate her own pulse as they laid side by side. “I hate you,” Marianne lazily grinned back, meaning absolutely none of it. She was legitimately tired, the mental exhaustion from the busy season wrapping up catching up on her, but also wired from everything she and Héloïse just did. There was a warmth settling in her chest that she never wanted to get rid of. “You don’t,” she felt Héloïse’s warm breath on her neck just before she nipped at her earlobe and she moved to wrap her arms around Marianne. “No, I don’t,” Marianne conceded, turning her head to capture Héloïse’s lips once more for a soft kiss, before they both found a comfortable position to sleep in, Marianne in Héloïse's arms.


	10. Everything Else After

Marianne stirred, the light streaming through the windows hitting her in the face. She had forgotten to close the curtains fully last night, and she regretted it. She took in a deep breath, just as her brain started processing things around her.

An arm around her waist, holding her close.

A warm body flush against her back, legs tangled together.

Héloïse.

She had sex with Héloïse last night, and… dare she say it, it was _amazing_. Marianne felt like she could levitate off her bed right now, but the way Héloïse was holding on to her - keeping her close, not letting her float adrift - Marianne decided that she really liked the feeling. 

Just then, she felt Héloïse stir, wrapping her arm tighter around Marianne’s waist, puffs of warm breath against the crook of her neck, a soft kiss planted there.

“Morning,” Héloïse greeted softly, voice still husky with sleep. Marianne gave Héloïse a reassuring squeeze on the hand, before turning around to face her, moving to plant a chaste kiss on her lips. “Good morning,” Marianne grinned back. 

“What are your plans for today?” Héloïse asked, stretching. “My plan was to just relax. The busy season has been… crazy… this year. Do you have anything on today?” Marianne asked in return. Héloïse shook her head. Just then, Héloïse’s stomach rumbled, causing the both of them to giggle.

“Let me grab you some toiletries, you can wash up and I’ll prepare breakfast.”  
“Are you sure you don’t want to join me in the shower?”

There was no way Marianne was saying no to that.

****

They were back on the bar stools at Marianne’s kitchen counter, feet tangled together so they could still be physically connected even while eating breakfast. Marianne never thought of herself as someone who would be so physically needy, and yet here she was, perfectly happy to maintain constant contact with Héloïse.

“This is amazing,” Héloïse said, between mouthfuls of the galette that Marianne had prepared. Marianne blushed. Between being complimented on the breakfast she had prepared, and the sight of Héloïse in Marianne’s t-shirt and shorts - she was a little short on words this morning.

Just then, her doorbell rang. Marianne locked eyes with Héloïse, smile faltering - she wasn’t expecting any visitors today. She ignored it for a while, before there was someone knocking incessantly on the door.

“Marianne! I assume you’re in there, unless you finally got your head out of your ass and you’re over at Héloïse’s place right now!”

It was Sophie. Why the hell was she knocking on her door when she could call or text? Héloïse stifled a laugh as Marianne swore under her breath, “ _Putain_ , I was meant to have brunch with Sophie and Sara today.” 

She could hear the two of them outside the door.   
  
“Why didn’t you just call her?”   
“Because I didn’t want to interrupt if she _was_ at Héloïse’s place.”  
“What if they came back here instead?”  
“Then I would still be very proud of her, either way.”

Marianne wanted the Earth to swallow her whole as Héloïse shrugged, still grinning, and motioned that she could make herself scarce if needed. Marianne shook her head - Héloïse’s coat was still on the hook by the door, her bag on the couch and there were very obviously 2 serves of breakfast still on the counter. The moment she opened the door, she would be made. Just then, her phone vibrated loudly on the counter, causing her to jump in her seat.

“I can hear your phone, Marianne!” Sophie called out, knocking on her door harder than before. “If you’re in there alone we are going to drag you out. This is too much - you need to stop being in denial and get your girl already.”

Héloïse gave Marianne a soft nudge, nodding towards the door - permission for her to open it if she was okay with it. 

Marianne was struck by inspiration, and pulled Héloïse along with her to the door. She pulled it open, Sophie’s hand suspended in mid-air as she was about to go in for another swing to knock, both Sophie and Sara’s eyes going wide and their jaws dropping when they noticed Héloïse’s presence just behind Marianne’s shoulder.

“Sorry I forgot I was meant to have brunch with you two today. I’ll have to get a raincheck.” Marianne said hastily, before shutting the door in their shocked faces. Héloïse smirked, softly pushing Marianne against the wall by the door, leaning in to plant a kiss on Marianne’s lips, just before the sound of Sophie and Sara bursting out laughing came through from the other side of the door. 

“I’m proud of you!” Sophie called out.  
“You can both still join us for brunch if you want!” Sara cut over Sophie.  
“No, Sara, let them have some time alone, geez.” Sophie said, their voices drifting further away from the door as Sophie presumably pushed or dragged her friend away from Marianne’s door.

“Well, that was a pleasant surprise.” Héloïse chuckled. Marianne shrugged, “The two of them were going to find out sooner or later, anyway. Might as well get it over and done with so I can live in peace.” “Very practical,” Héloïse remarked, before pulling Marianne back to the kitchen to finish their breakfast.

“They’re funny, I like them,” Héloïse added.  
“Only because you’re not constantly exposed to their shenanigans.”

****

As expected, the next time Marianne saw Sophie and Sara in the office, the both of them were wearing knowing smiles on their faces. 

“So, I take it you had a fun night after archiving the file?” Sophie asked casually during their lunch break.   
“We had dinner together, yes.” Marianne left it at that.   
“Are you planning on seeing her more, after this?”  
“If she’s still interested in me, I don’t see why not.”

Sophie nodded sagely. Sara was, to Marianne’s surprise, still quiet about the whole thing.

“No _probing_ questions, Sara? No sudden reveal that you had seen her at Nodd during those weeks I wasn’t there and somehow tried to play wingman for me?” Marianne asked, nudging Sara in the shoulder.

“Knowing that you got something right at last and got yourself a date is good enough for me, Marianne.” Sara responded, “And I know you’ll tell me whatever you want about that, when you want.”

Marianne squinted at her, suspicious, “That’s very mature of you.”

“Thank you. I try sometimes.” Sara responded matter-of-factly, much to Sophie’s amusement. Marianne stopped herself from making any further comment, because she liked the privacy this would afford her, no matter how temporary. She could get used to this.

****

Towards the end of Spring, Sophie informed Marianne that she was planning a surprise birthday party for Sara at their place the following weekend. “Feel free to bring Héloïse as your plus one, if you want,” she added, after explaining to Marianne what the plan was going to be.

When Sophie left, Marianne stared blankly at her laptop. She and Héloïse had been ticking off places on their food list together, going through a mix of places they had both never been to before, or places one of them had been to but deserved an introduction to the other. Marianne had also started to lose count of how often they had been to each other’s apartments, with their latest arrangement seeming to be ‘whichever was most convenient for either of them, depending on where they had to be for work that week’. Sure, there were days where they left each other to their own devices, but they were spending _a lot_ of time together.

The thing was that they hadn’t talked about whether they were just _dating_ or whether they were… girlfriends. It sure _feels_ like they are, though. 

Marianne went through the rest of the work day distracted, though thankful that it was still the off-peak season at work. 

That evening, she found herself in front of the building Héloïse told her to meet her at - one of her client’s offices, near the Peruvian restaurant they were going to try out that evening. “Hey,” Héloïse greeted as she walked out the doors, planting a kiss on Marianne’s lips before taking her hand. Even with all the internal turmoil, Marianne’s lips still automatically twitched upwards at the contact with Héloïse.

“Shall we?” Héloïse asked, smiling, and Marianne just nodded, throat suddenly tight again.

“Penny for your thoughts?” Héloïse asked gently, after they had ordered their food. Marianne knew she was being uncharacteristically quiet so far and she was going to get caught by Héloïse sooner rather than later - Héloïse really did have a knack for reading her like an open book. 

“Sophie’s planning a surprise birthday party for Sara, next weekend.”  
“Oh, that sounds like fun. Did she rope you in to do something embarrassing?”   
“No, she -”

Marianne paused, took a deep breath, then looked Héloïse in the eye. _Eye contact is very important_ , she told herself. _Even if you scare her away_.

“She said I could bring you along as my plus one.”

“Oh, that’s sweet of her,” Héloïse said, while Marianne’s heart continued racing. “Would you like me to go with you? I’m fine if you don’t,” she continued. 

“ _Do_ you want to go to the party with me?” Marianne asked back.  
“Yeah, why not? Girlfriends go to parties together, right?”

They both froze the moment Héloïse said that. Marianne swallowed thickly. 

“We haven’t really spoken about this, have we?” Héloïse awkwardly mumbled, rubbing the back of her neck. “No,” Marianne shook her head, looking down. Why was she so bad at communication? No. Héloïse would never intentionally put her in an uncomfortable position, and always gave her space when she needed it. Héloïse deserved clear communication and not guesswork and assumptions. They have been happy spending time together, Héloïse clearly saw Marianne as her girlfriend - this should practically be a non-issue. 

“I’d like to be, though,” Marianne said resolutely as she looked up again. “Your girlfriend. I’d like us to be girlfriends.”

The grin that spread across Héloïse’s face and eyes was something Marianne never got tired of seeing, especially when it was always accompanied by a warm and fuzzy feeling in her chest. 

They held hands for the rest of dinner, and never let go until the next day.

****

At the party, Marianne introduced Héloïse to her friends as _her girlfriend_ , and the reassuring hand on the small of her back through the night was all she needed to know that she had made the right choice. When they had a private moment in the kitchen while Héloïse scooped some punch for themselves, Marianne gave Héloïse an appreciative nuzzle and a peck on the cheek, close to her lips. 

At the end of the night, she found herself in Héloïse’s lap, on Sophie and Sara’s couch.

“God, the two of you are too adorable. I might get diabetes,” Sara grinned at them, tipsy from the alcohol.  
“Every day, I’m thankful that Marianne has friends like the two of you,” Héloïse laughed while Marianne drew nothings on the back of Héloïse’s hands, that were wrapped around her waist.  
“What _would_ she do without us?” Sophie asked wistfully.  
“Mope about being a complete disaster, probably,” Sara nodded.

Marianne did not like being ganged up on like this, but she also would not have it any other way.

****

“What do you want to do? When you leave Audit?” Héloïse asked.   
“Honestly, I don’t know. I’m not sure if I want to _stay_ in Accounting at all, to be honest.”  
“Hmmm.”  
“What about you? I know you said you found something interesting in Audit to keep you there, but… is staying in the CRC something you see yourself doing?”

They were sitting together on the beach at Quiberon, watching the sunset together before heading back to the chateau where Héloïse’s mother was expecting them for dinner. Marianne had been a nervous wreck on the lead up to this particular trip - she had never gotten to this stage in a relationship before, and she did not know what the conventions were. “Screw the conventions,” Héloïse had said, taking Marianne’s hand in hers as she was driving. With her thumb, she rubbed soothing circles at the back of her hand. She took her eyes off the road for a moment to grin at Marianne - “Treat it like a client dinner where you’re trying to wine and dine your way to getting a foot through the door to the pitch,”

“Your _mother_ is _not_ an audit pitch, Héloïse.” Marianne had protested then, bringing her other hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose. “Nor does it work that way.”

Héloïse laughed, of course Marianne would correct her on _that_ point.

“I think I'll leave the CRC when something interesting pops up,” Héloïse responded to Marianne’s question, picking at the loose thread poking from the blanket they were sitting on. “The money is good, but it’s not like I really _need_ the money.” 

Marianne looked at her feet, curling them in the sand. “I think I want to resign before the end of the year,” she said. “Or at least, take a career break. Figure out my next step.”

Just then, Héloïse moved to stand up, holding her hands out to help pull Marianne up. “Dinner with _Maman_ first. We’ll worry about what to do with our careers later,” she said. Marianne took her offered hands, and with a sharp tug, was upright and dusting sand off both herself and Héloïse. They rolled the blanket up and slowly made their way back up to the chateau, fingers intertwined.

Everything about the dinner went about as perfectly as one could hope, with Marianne cracking jokes that Héloïse’s mother clearly appreciated, keeping her entertained. Before the end of the dinner, Marianne had received an invitation to join the Devereaux family Christmas holiday in Milan. “Thank you for the invite,” Marianne said courteously, “But I already promised my parents I will be home for Christmas.”

“Ah, a filial daughter. Very responsible,” Héloïse’s mother nodded approvingly. “I can see why Héloïse is so taken with you.”

Later that night, in the darkness of Héloïse’s childhood bedroom and in her arms, Héloïse kissed Marianne on the top of her head. “See? Told you it was going to be easy. _Maman_ already loves you. The rest of this holiday will be a breeze.” she said softly. Marianne nodded, scooting closer, resting her head on Héloïse’s chest, listening to the steady, strong beating of her heart, feeling Héloïse run her fingers through her hair. Just then, she was hit by an overwhelming emotion - she looked up at Héloïse, face softly illuminated by the moonlight that filtered through the crack of the curtains. Her eyes were bright, full of adoration for Marianne. “I love you, Héloïse,” she said with as much feeling she could muster into those words. 

Héloïse moved to kiss Marianne, deep and tender. 

“I love you too.”

They try to keep as quiet as possible so as not to wake Héloïse's mother up.

****

“My career break has been approved!” Marianne announced triumphantly as she walked through the door, Héloïse puttering about in the kitchen, preparing dinner for the both of them. “Three months off from next month until the end of February,” she said as she moved to help Héloïse set the table. 

“Guess I’m definitely not seeing you for the year-end audit, then,” Héloïse commented. “I’m sure Sophie has been a good Manager for the job,” Marianne said as she hugged Héloïse from behind. “But she isn’t _you_ ,” Héloïse faux-whined. Marianne laughed, “You’ll live.”

****

Two things happen in those three months.

Marianne opts to stay with ADR, splitting her time between audit and digital innovation, leveraging on her practical knowledge of the use of data analytics on audit engagements.

Héloïse and Marianne move in together.

****

They have their good days, they have their bad days, they have all the days in between, but they eventually reach a point in time where Marianne could not remember what life was like before Héloïse.

Héloïse was her North Star, her guiding light. They constantly pushed and challenged each other, and Marianne knew she was a better person for it. 

****

Marianne hung her coat by the door then tossed her keys into the bowl, walking through to find Héloïse lounging on the couch with a book.

“How was your first day at Médecins Sans Frontières, Mademoiselle Finance Director?” she asked.

“Oh, you know, the usual. Induction, admin nonsense, the like. The team seems pretty good, so I'm looking forward to it.”

Marianne hummed in response, as Héloïse opened her arms, beckoning Marianne to join her on the couch. She settled against Héloïse, top of her head against Héloïse's cheek, arms comfortably wrapped around her shoulders. Héloïse propped the book up against Marianne’s chest so she could still read. They hadn't done this in a while and Marianne settled in the comfort of Héloïse's arms.

Héloïse casually turned a page in her book when she took in a deep breath, the action of which stirred Marianne into mirroring. She almost missed what Héloïse said next. 

“Shall we… open a joint bank account?”

Marianne stilled, processing what was just said. She moved to turn to look at Héloïse, who was no longer reading her book but looking at Marianne, eyes tentative, almost unsure of Marianne's response.

“I was just thinking, since I need to open a new bank account for this new job anyway, we might as well sort it out at the same time,” Héloïse said softly, eyes shifting away as a blush rose to her cheeks.

Marianne felt a familiar warmth rise in her chest, still there after all the years they had been together. “You're such an accountant,” Marianne said softly, bringing her hand up to cup Héloïse's cheek. “So…” Héloïse breathed out, unsure. “Yes, you big nerd,” Marianne responded, bringing Héloïse in for a kiss, “Let’s open a joint bank account.” 

They pull apart. 

“This means I don’t have to get you a ring, right?” Héloïse asked, at the exact same moment Marianne asked, “You’re asking me to marry you, right?”

“Yes, I am.”  
“We can discuss the ring later.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that's it! Thank you everyone who has followed me on this journey - it has been a fun one to write. Mostly because I don't usually write fluff, and this is the first multichap fic I've ever completed, so I hope it was satisfying. (:


End file.
